


Timing Is Everything

by dll10



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dll10/pseuds/dll10
Summary: Life doesn’t always go the way predicted, and a chance encounter with Teddy Lupin, just returned after a ten year stint abroad, sets Lily Potter on a whole new, completely unexpected, path.  Trouble is, they can only get so far before they have to deal with the ghosts of their past, and old enemies as well.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Lily Luna Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley, Teddy Lupin/Lily Luna Potter, Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley
Comments: 20
Kudos: 47





	1. Seriously?

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This will be a pretty short story, probably between thirty and fifty thousand words. I know this first chapter is super short, but I hope you give this a chance! I think it’ll be really good… hopefully...

PS I’m not JK Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 1: Seriously?

“I know this might seem a little unorthodox to ask, all things considered, but will you be my Maid of Honor?” Rose asked, hands clasped beneath her elfin chin as she aimed huge, brown puppy eyes at her younger cousin.

Lily had been out with Al, the two of them grabbing a drink at the Three Broomsticks that night to console Lily after the bomb that had been dropped at the Burrow earlier that day. Rose must have tracked her down expressly for the purpose of asking her this question.

Did Rose truly hate her so much? Didn’t she understand what she was asking?

“Me?” Lily gasped, horrified by the prospect.

Unorthodox? Seriously? Her closest cousin was only marrying Scorpius Malfoy -- Lily’s ex-boyfriend. The very same wizard she’d dated for over four years during her years at Hogwarts, followed by a little over one very messy and complicated year after she’d graduated. The very same Scor that had dumped her eight months earlier when she refused to drop everything, give up her promising career, and move to Paris with him -- when he’d given her twelve hours notice to decide the entire course of her future.

The only wizard she’d ever willingly loved.

The only wizard she’d ever slept with.

The very same wizard she’d wrongfully believed was pining over her and was returning to set things right between them.

At least she had, up until three hours earlier when he’d shattered her delusion good and proper with the news that he’d not only started dating someone new, but that he was marrying her. They hadn’t even been dating for four months yet!

Bloody hell! Where the hell was that bartender with her drink? She’d only asked for a double firewhiskey for each of her and Al, but judging by the look on Rose’s face, she should have asked for at least three doubles. How in Merlin’s pants was she supposed to gracefully refuse? 

Of course, that was the thing. She couldn’t bloody refuse, not without announcing to all of her family and friends that she was still hung up on Scor. A state he clearly no longer felt.

“This must seem so sudden. We never even told anyone we were together! And I know, given all of our history, this might be hard for you --”

“It’s not hard,” Lily promised. 

More like agonizing. Telling Scor no had been the biggest regret of her life. One she’d been planning for the last three months to rectify.

She’d had the entire conversation planned out. Practiced it at least a dozen times. Knew exactly what needed to happen when he showed up today. He’d Flooed to warn her he was coming a few days earlier. But that’s all he’d said -- that he was coming home and wanted to talk to her. 

Lily had been thrilled. Over the moon. The stars were finally aligning. It was perfect. She was going to get her second chance. And she’d not even needed to go groveling to him!

At least, she had known what she’d planned to do -- before he’d arrived with his fiance, Rose Weasley in tow. Rose, as in Lily’s cousin. Her older, smarter cousin -- the British Minister of Magic’s daughter. The very same cousin that was currently asking Lily to be her Maid of Honor.

Could tonight get any worse?

Seriously?

“Then you will?” Rose breathed, jumping up and down excitedly. Clapping her hands in delight, and positively beaming at her. She looked just like her mother tonight, all sleek and elegant and commanding, but with the trademark Weasley red hair.

Wait, what? 

When had the word yes ever crossed Lily’s lips? She was certain it hadn’t. That it wouldn’t. Not in a million fucking years. Yet Rose was pretending it had. Had the witch gone temporarily deaf?

“I mean --” Lily began, starting to panic.

Was it getting ridiculously hot in here? Did anyone else notice the insane heat of the place?

“You’re my closest female friend. I can’t tell you what this means to me!” Rose exclaimed, clearly ecstatic as she darted away.

Lily watched, stunned, as Rose launched herself across the room at Scor. The blond wizard with perfectly chiseled cheekbones and smoldering grey eyes caught Rose’s lanky form easily, swinging the giddy witch around in merry circles as they celebrated.

As awful as it was, she wished the floor would open up beneath their feet and that they’d plummet into an endless chasm. Not really, but she wouldn’t mind them disappearing for a bit. Tonight was supposed to have been about her forgetting, scrubbing the image of the perfect, happy couple from her mind. 

It was then that the bartender finally arrived, depositing two double shots of firewhiskey in front of Lily. Shrugging, she knocked back first one, then the other as she watched the nauseating scene unfold before her. A trail of heat made a sinewy path down her chest, flames licking at her throat in a way that was borderline painful. Precisely what she wanted just then.

Al, the shiest Potter to ever walk the planet, wouldn’t mind getting his own. Well, he would, but he’d understand. Eventually.

Lily signaled the barkeep, Hannah Longbottom’s young replacement Liv or Mia or Jen -- something with three letters that she hadn’t bothered to pay attention to when first told -- but the witch held up a finger indicating it’d be a moment.

“Great,” Lily sighed, slumping down on her stool.

“Here. For you,” a soft voice said from her elbow just before a full shot glass was set down in front of her.

“Thanks,” Lily said, grinning and swallowing the contents and relishing the fiery burn. “Make it two and -- oh!” Lily gasped, startled by the sight of the newcomer.

Shaggy turquoise hair and glittering sea-foam green eyes greeted her from a face that was both familiar and not. The same high cheekbones and strong, square jaw that she remembered, but somehow even more defined than the last time she’d seen them. The final touches added to a mostly completed sculpture. The man before her was a faded photograph that she’d not seen since childhood. A forgotten dream that left only an indecipherable emotional impression behind when the sleeper woke. 

More than ten years. It had been more than ten years since Teddy fled Britain, unable to remain after the dual tragedies that rocked his world. Last Lily heard, he’d never planned to return. Merlin knew Harry and Jamie had been trying to get him back for years.

Teddy had not changed a bit. Except perhaps there was a bit more weariness in his eyes than there had been when he was nineteen. A bit more muscle on his frame too.

“Good oh?” he asked cautiously, one side of his lips quirking up in a reluctantly amused half-smile.

“Yes?” Lily tried, the surrealness of the moment settling in.

“I’m going to ignore the question in that statement and take it as an invitation instead,” he announced, pulling a nearby stool closer and taking a seat. 

Lily swallowed, feeling heat brush her cheeks at his frank appraisal of her body. She’d never expected Teddy to look at her like that. Not like she was shaggable. But he most definitely was. There was no other way to describe the lazy way his eyes trailed over her in a nearly tangible caress that had gooseflesh rising on her arms and a shiver cascading down her spine. 

Thank Merlin she was still decked out from her attempt to impress Scor. Loosely curled hair, sultry yet understated makeup, and flattering dress were all perfect after spending nearly two hours getting ready for their reunion. At least all that effort wasn’t a complete waste. Teddy seemed to be appreciating it immensely.

Teddy had been Lily’s first crush. Back before she started Hogwarts. She used to fancy herself in love with him the way her mum had loved her dad as a child. She’d thought it would be so romantic to grow up and eventually marry her first crush the same way. But then he’d gone and fallen for another one of her cousins, Victorie. Then… well… it all went to hell.

The barkeep headed back over, interrupting Teddy’s slow perusal. With a challenging grin, he asked, “Sure you want another?”

“Definitely,” she rasped, finding it difficult to form the word when his gaze was focused so intently on her.

“I’m Teddy by the way,” he added easily, tearing his pale, gemstone eyes away to give the witch his order.

Lily felt her jaw drop. He didn’t recognize her. He thought she was just some random witch he was hitting on in the pub.

She couldn’t believe it. It had been ten years, yes, but Teddy practically grew up in her house. Okay, well, when he wasn’t at Hogwarts, which he had been for most of her life before he left. But still!

In a split second, Lily made the decision to play with him a bit. It would definitely take her mind off the snogging couple in the booth across the way. Plastering a teasing smile on her face, Lily coyly asked, “Do you always buy girls you don’t know drinks?” 

“I just got back to town this afternoon, and you looked like you could use a drink,” Teddy said astutely. Slowly, giving her a chance to pull away, Teddy reached out to take her hand. When she let him, he threaded his fingers with hers, brushing his thumb softly against her. “Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to come over and talk to you.”

Rose’s laughter echoed through the room, drowning out the other patrons, and making Lily’s teeth momentarily grind together. Teddy’s thumb stroked over her again, recapturing her attention.

“I could do with a whole bottle to be honest, but I’m glad you did,” Lily admitted.

Lily’s breath caught when Teddy leaned forward, tipping his head until his warm breath fanned over her neck, sending her pulse skyrocketing, as he suggestively whispered, “How about some company tonight?”

“For drinking or…” she breathed, hardly daring to believe Teddy Lupin had just propositioned her.

“I rented a room upstairs. I can get a bottle, then why don’t I let you decide what happens after that?” he said, his head dipping closer until his lips brushed the shell of her ear erotically as he spoke.

“Do you always proposition witches whose names you don’t know?” Lily said, unconsciously tilting her head to give him better access. Teddy took the hint, and leaned down to press a kiss against the column of her neck. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult given his proximity.

“This will actually be a first, but I’m a little nervous being back, and you’re… well, too beautiful to ignore,” he said, and a nervous quiver had entered his voice giving it an uncertain edge that Lily suspected meant he was being truthful.

“Grab a bottle. I’ll be up in five,” she said, anticipation making her feel jittery and light-headed. 

She couldn’t believe what was happening. It was the very last thing she’d expected to happen when Al suggested they go out for a drink to drown her sorrows. Shite -- Al! Where was he? Had his girlfriend arrived to distract him, or was he making nice with his newly returned best mate?

“Room seven,” Teddy said, accepting the bottle held out over the bar and giving her a wide grin before he sauntered off towards the staircase in the back.

“Lils, was that?” Al asked uncertainly, sliding into Teddy’s vacated seat before she had to go in search of him. “I thought, but I wasn’t sure, and you…”

“Yes,” she admitted quietly, suddenly worried about his reaction.

“What the hell are you playing at?” Al demanded, staring at Lily as though she’d suddenly sprouted pustules all over her face.

“Don’t tell Jamie,” Lily begged, knowing her eldest brother would go ballistic at the thought of her not just hooking up with someone, but specifically with Teddy.

Jamie and Teddy had always been the closest. The two genuinely behaved like brothers. Teddy had often tried to include Al, but the middle Potter tended to prefer solitude or flying as opposed to Jamie’s more boisterous and comical habits. 

And Lily had been too young. Not even two yet when Teddy started Hogwarts. They’d become pen pals after Teddy moved away, but even that tapered off when Lily began dating Scor at the start of her fourth year.

“When Dad finds out --”

“You’re not going to tell him!” Lily hissed, horrified at the idea that her brother would ruin her dad’s image of her as a pristine little angel.

Being a Potter meant there were always eyes on her, and she’d been very careful to never do anything that could get back to her family. She’d seen how they reacted to Jamie’s escapades, and she’d not wanted to put them through that with her. But tonight… She just wanted to live. Really live.

Teddy was an opportunity she’d never expected.

“No, but --”

“Well, I’m certainly not. And I doubt Teddy will,” Lily argued, rationally pointing out that they had nothing to worry about. 

“Did you know he was coming back?” Al asked suddenly, a little hurt that he’d not been informed. He might not have been as close to Teddy, but he’d missed the metamorphmagus over the years too.

“No. Mum said dad’s been asking more than usual, but I never thought he would,” Lily said wonderingly. She’d have to see if she could find out what prompted the sudden return.

“Yeah… not after…”

“I know,” Lily acknowledged, sharing a pained look with her brother.

“So, you’re what, going to shag him?”

“I…” Lily glanced over to watch Rose and Scor for a minute. The two were cuddled up in a booth together. Rose’s arms were looped around the blond’s neck and he was nuzzling her cheek. They looked perfectly smitten with one another, and oblivious to the crowd present. “I need this.”

“I can’t believe he’s agreed to this with you of all people,” Al stated flatly, shaking his head at her. He stopped mid motion, his eyes widening in response to a flicker of something he saw on her face. “Lily?” he prompted quietly.

“He didn’t exactly recognize me,” she admitted wearily, wincing at the expression on her brother’s face.

“You’re making a mistake,” he warned.

“It’s my mistake to make,” she insisted, hugging him briefly before heading upstairs.


	2. 2: Revelations

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J.K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 2: Revelations

Lily took a deep breath, bracing herself before she knocked on the door of Room Seven. Anticipation had her jittery, champagne bubbles popping in her veins, leaving her giddy and light-headed. The nondescript door seemed out of place given what waited for her beyond. 

There was still time to back out. Only thing was, she didn’t want to back out. She wanted to sleep with Teddy. He was her first crush. The first bloke she’d ever fantasized about. Her neck still tingled pleasantly where he’d pressed his lips against her several minutes ago.

The door swung wide, and Lily was treated to the sight of Teddy’s eyes slowly deepening to a deep navy, the night sky as twilight set in. It was mesmerizing to watch such a visible reaction take hold. 

“Hi,” she breathed, smiling faintly.

“You actually came up,” he said, slipping his hand around her narrow waist to guide her inside.

“You didn’t think I would?” she teased, enjoying the lighthearted banter. It was easier than she expected to relax and just be herself with him.

“I thought you might have been giving me the brush off,” he admitted, ducking his head almost bashfully. Did he not realize how sexy he was? How many witches had desired him over the years?

“No, definitely not,” she breathed, sincerity coating every word so thickly that Teddy’s head shot up to stare at her.

Achingly slowly, he brought his hand up to gently cup her cheek. His eyes flicked over her face as he leaned closer. Lily’s tongue darted out to moisten her lips, as her breath caught at the way his eyes darkened further when he watched her do it.

Then their lips were crashing together, an erotic slide of heated velvet. Teddy sucked her plump lower lip between his, nipping it lightly and startling a gasp from her. He took advantage, slipping his tongue into her mouth to run along the length of hers.

He tasted of sin and temptation, and every tantalizing fantasy she’d ever had. Smoky hints of firewhiskey and underlying notes of decadent, dark chocolate flavored the kiss. It was addictive. 

A groan rumbled in his chest, and her hands wound around his back to clutch at his shoulders, needing his strength to remain upright. His fingers threaded through her long hair, shifting to cup the back of her hand and keep her locked to him.

The kiss was a promise of the pleasures to come, and Lily felt her knees weakening in anticipation as she tried to pace herself and simply sample him -- when all she really wanted was to gorge like a kid in a candy shop.

When he broke away, though he kept his forehead pressed against her own, Lily found herself breathlessly gasping, “You’re -- er -- really good at that.”

Teddy shifted, gripping her hip and aligning their bodies until she could feel the bulge beneath his robes against her stomach, proof that he felt the same.

“I can’t believe you’re single,” he said suddenly, disbelief unmistakable. A silent question hung in the air, a request for information as well as an understanding if she didn’t wish to divulge. After all, they were strangers, and this was completely casual.

“Hence the drinking,” she stated dryly, deciding to be truthful with him on this. There was already enough unsaid between them -- her name for instance. 

“Recent break up?” he asked, sussing her out. She felt the hand at her waist move, lightly stroking the line of her hip bone through her dress.

“Not so recent, no. I found out he’s marrying my cousin tonight,” she admitted frankly, not to mention a little wryly. 

It almost sounded funny when said aloud like that. Maybe one day soon she could actually laugh about it. 

Maybe.

“And this…”

“Is about equal parts forgetting that and wanting you,” she said truthfully, hoping he’d understand.

His hand didn’t even pause as he said, “I hope I don’t disappoint.” 

“I doubt you could if you tried,” she quipped, heat from his kiss lingering, a wondrous glow in the pit of her belly.

“Drink?” he offered, brushing his lips over her cheek.

The feel of his petal soft lips had her craving them again. “I think I’d rather you kiss me again,” she stated honestly, tipping her head back, and tugging on his shoulders to bring him even closer.

“I can do that,” he said quickly before eagerly greeting her waiting mouth with his.

It was even better than the first time. He casually sipped at her lips, sampling her mouth like a fine wine. It was heady and intoxicating. Demonstrating all of the restraint she’d been struggling with earlier.

Before long, her hands began to roam over his chest, carefully freeing each of the buttons on his shirt, and ghosting inside to feel the concealed planes of solid muscle. He was so much more fit than he’d been before leaving Britain. Almost shockingly so. He’d still been a gangly teen back then, for all he believed he was grown. Now he was broader. Filled out. Possessing the well-toned and sculpted physique of a man that took care of himself.

Teddy broke off, gasping as he tugged her dress upwards. Lily helped by lifting her arms, allowing him to pull the tight, black material over her head and leaving her in nothing but a demi-cup lace bra, and a matching pair of barely there panties, as well as thigh-high stockings and spikey heels. 

“You’re a vision,” he groaned, staring hungrily at her. “Truly stunning.”

Lily smirked, feeling more desired than she had since she was sixteen and had first let Scor see this much of her body unclothed.

She pressed against Teddy, leaning up to nip his chin before sinking down to her knees before him, careful to rub her body along his as she moved.

“You don’t have --”

“I want to,” Lily interrupted, reaching up to unfasten his trousers, running her fingers deliberately over the length of him through the material.

“Then I am not going to argue,” he said, grinning wickedly.

Lily fisted his freed length with one hand as she pushed his pants down further with the other. He was thick and long, the rod already red and hard. The protruding veins pulsing rhythmically. 

Her nails lightly scraped up his inner thigh as they inched higher and higher, finally gripping the base of his shaft as her tongue traced the length of him, deliberately circling the bulbous head.

“That feels incredible,” he groaned, watching her intently.

Lily felt her lips curl into a smile around his hardness as she swallowed it deep into her mouth, the head of his cock brushing the back of her throat. She sucked him deeply, bobbing her head on his length as her tongue danced and swirled around him. Her fingers lightly rolled his heavy scrotum and she gripped and worked all of him that didn’t fit inside the wet heat of her mouth.

His sounds of pleasure guided her, telling her when to add more pressure and when to tease. He tasted earthy and seductive, and having him in her mouth, in her thrall, was even more immensely satisfying than she’d expected.

Lightly, she scraped her nails over his inner thigh again, and was rewarded by a wild jerk of his hips. All the while he stared at her, seeming amazed that she was truly on her knees before him, pleasuring him so thoroughly. 

One of his hands found its way into her hair, his fingers weaving into the deep red strands to lightly cup her head, and he gasped, “I’m close.”

Lily sucked harder, swiping her tongue along the slit in the crown of his cock and tasting his precum. It was salty, and she wanted more, wanted to taste his release. Wanted to be the one to drive him wild.

“Augh,” he cried, jerking his hips slightly as he erupted in her mouth. She swallowed every drop, gently guiding him through his release with her hands and mouth.

Lily looked up, just in time to see his hair turn a brilliant, shocking pink. The same color her Gran tried to make all of her granddaughters wear whenever she knitted them sweaters. 

“Does that always happen?” Lily asked, undeniably amused as she nodded towards his hair.

Sheepishly, Teddy shuffled his feet, reaching to rub the back of his neck as he admitted, “Yeah, whenever I lose control.”

“It’s cute,” Lily said, trying and failing to hide her smile as she stood.

“Cute?” he asked incredulously, his eyes dropping to the swells of her breasts as the high-pitched word escaped.

“What’s wrong with cute?” she asked, all mock innocence.

“Cute isn’t exactly a turn on,” he grumbled, cheeks flushing as his eyes devoured the sight of her standing before him in skimpy lingerie.

“I don’t know about that. I’d say I’m pretty turned on right now,” Lily refuted, feeling her heart rate increase at the lust she read in his midnight eyes.

Boldly, he reached to cup her between her legs. She had no doubt that he could feel her heat and moisture through her flimsy lace and mesh panties. Pleasuring him had done more for her than she’d been able to do for herself in all her months of being single.

“Well look at that,” he murmured, pressing the heel of his palm more firmly against her as his fingers traced long lines up and down the length of her slit, lightly tickling her.

“Hmmm,” she moaned, need gripping her fiercely.

Teddy hooked his fingers in the sides of her underwear, easing them down and off. Carefully, he guided her backwards, walking her to the edge of the bed and easing her down.

“I can’t wait to see what you look like when you lose control,” he said, the teasing note almost drowned out by the heavy vein of anticipation.

His fingers continued stroking her lazily as he moved to position himself between her splayed thighs.

“Ah, mmh,” she moaned, starting when he lightly kissed her knee. The sensation tickled. “I can guarantee my hair won’t turn pink,” she taunted, gripping the bedcovers tightly in a fist when his finger delved inside her entrance, deliberately working in and out.

“Good. It’s the most gorgeous shade of red I’ve ever seen,” he said baldly.

The pronouncement made her gasp, particularly when it was accompanied by his thumb stroking over her sensitive nub. Lily felt her toes curl when he repeated the motion.

Her hair had once been the same carrotty orange as the rest of the Weasley clan when she’d been a child, but it had darkened to a deep ruby, cinnamon when puberty hit. Incidentally, it ended up the same shade of red as her namesake, Lily Evans Potter.

All thought was forgotten though when Teddy’s tongue swept out to flick her clit. His lips fastened around the little bud, tracing figure eights over it as his fingers kept pumping in and out of her slick channel.

In almost no time, Lily felt the tell-tale signs of lush pressure building. A coiling spring, twisting tighter and tighter until it inevitably snapped, releasing all of its pent up energy in the form of mind-blowing pleasure.

Teddy stroked her skillfully, the hand not pumping into her center sliding up to massage her breast. Lily moaned when he caught the puckered peak of her nipple between his fingers, the lace of her bra scraping deliciously against the sensitive flesh. 

“Oh, yes! Yes!” Her muscles seized with little to no warning, and her climax came over her in a rush that left her whole body trembling. 

Her eyes rolled back as she crested, shattering like so much glass while every muscle in her body seized and relaxed, a tumbling waterfall dousing her. Endorphins flooded her, better than a shot of heroin.

Lily was a boneless heap as Teddy trailed a path of blazing kisses up her body, pausing on her chest to remove her bra and suck the neglected bub into the lucious warmth of his mouth. His teeth gently worried the tightened tip, tugging lightly before releasing it with a wet pop!

“That was fabulous,” she moaned, recovering enough energy to reach for him, weakly encouraging him to come to her. 

He eagerly rose to meet her waiting mouth, kissing her deeply as he settled over her, his hands tracing every curve of her body.

“It might not be pink hair,” he said into her mouth, “but your chest flushes a very becoming red.”

“Shut up,” she whined, smacking him playfully, and turning her face to bury it in the pillows.

Teddy caught her chin and tilted her face back to kiss her once more. Lily allowed herself to get lost in the reactions he stirred to life within her, his hands petting her back to a fever pitch.

“I want you,” she gasped, locking her arms and legs around him, trying to draw him closer still.

He slid into her as soon as she spoke, slow and steady as if he’d just been waiting for her permission. They fit snugly together as he filled her completely.

“You feel incredible,” he said wonderingly, unconsciously echoing her thoughts. “Guess it’s a good thing I gave you that drink.”

Lily nipped his neck, raking her nails down his back, enticing him to stop teasing her and move faster. Her actions made his hips buck erratically, and he groaned, raining hot, open-mouthed kissing over her neck and the top of her breasts. 

“More,” she begged,” I need more.”

In answer, Teddy rolled them. Lily sat up, bracing herself on his chest as she rode him. He gripped her hips, guiding her motions and never looking away.

Lily’s head fell back when he bucked, hitting a particularly sensitive spot inside her. “Again,” she begged.

Teddy complied, even as he sat up to capture one of her nipples between his teeth. “Oh!” Lily gasped, scraping her nails down his chest in response to the pressure.

Her legs made their way around his waist, and she held on as he repeatedly drove himself up into her. His hand snaked between them, his fingers rubbing over her clit until her inner walls fluttered around him, clenching and spasming enticingly.

Then Lily was soaring off a cliff, arms thrown wide as she plummeted through a rain of fireworks. Bliss blasted through her, an overinflated balloon popping with a sudden woosh that rushed through her limbs. Her channel tightened around him in a vice grip, locking them together.

“Yes, agh, um,” he groaned, holding her tighter to his chest as he surged into her a final time, his release followed hers almost immediately after and filling her with his warmth.

Afterwards, they collapsed across the bed, limbs sprawled and tangled together.

Lily blinked, stunned by the sheer amount she was feeling. That had been… incredible. Shattering. She felt as though she’d been through the crucible and came out an entirely different person on the other side. She felt a sense of clarity come over her that could only ever be achieved in the aftermath of an epic crest of sensation.

Sex with Teddy was better than it had ever been with Scor, and she didn’t know what to do with that knowledge. At school, things with him had been either rushed or fumbling. At first because neither had known what they were doing, and later because it was easier to just do what was familiar. They’d always had to be quiet to avoid getting caught too. This encounter had been anything but quiet. She wouldn’t be surprised to learn the customers downstairs had heard them.

What’s more, after she’d graduated, sex with Scor had become almost perfunctory. More of an obligation than any true desire to be intimate. Perhaps that was a bit too critical. Boring and predictable might be a more apt way to describe it.

“You’re a true redhead. I knew you’d be wild,” Teddy murmured, twisting to kiss her shoulder and run a hand through her long, undeniably messy hair.

“Wild?” she asked, amused by the descriptor. She’d never really considered herself as such, but she had to admit she’d let her inhibitions down more in the last hour than she probably had at any other point in her life.

“A hellcat in bed,” he stated categorically.

“Yeah?” she breathed, liking the thought. It was fun. Exciting. Thrilling even.

Teddy ran his hand over the faint scratches she’d left on his chest. Lily blinked, her mouth falling open as she took in the way she’d marked him up.

“Definitely a hellcat,” he proclaimed, grinning widely.

“And you like that?” she asked, a little uncertain and hesitant.

“More than words can say,” he said, pulling on her until she rolled to drape herself atop his chest.

“How bout that drink?” she suggested, not really knowing what else to say just then. This was her first fling, and she wasn’t entirely sure of the protocol.

“Later. I want to see if you have freckles everywhere first,” he announced, dipping his mouth to kiss the dusting of freckles on her upper arm.

~

Lily didn’t remember falling asleep the night before. All she knew was that it must have been really late. Or early as the case may be. And when she woke, it was to the sensation of fingers idly caressing her slit.

“That’s the nicest alarm I’ve ever had,” she mused, pressing her butt against the hard length nestled firmly between her cheeks.

“Morning, Hellcat,” came the raspy reply behind her, accompanied with a finger dipping completely inside her entrance only to retreat and drift up to rub firmly over her clit.

Without another word, Teddy lifted her leg and eased into her ready channel.

“Ah,” she gasped. “Definitely the best,” she repeated, gripping the arm he slung over her as he rocked his hips into hers.

The sex was different than it had been either time the night before. This was slow and gentle. Hands caressing her, molding a breast and tweaking a nipple before sliding down to rub her clit.

Lily reached back to squeeze his butt, the only part she could reach in their current position.

Their climax, when it came, was an unhurried wave, cresting gently over each of them like a welcome spring shower. Refreshing and revitalizing.

Lily was still basking in the glowing aftermath when she caught sight of the clock. Eight forty.

Check out was at nine thirty, less than an hour from then. She figured he’d be staying at Grimmauld Place once Harry learned he was in town, as he was positive to do before long, so Teddy probably wouldn’t have the room rented for another night.

Knowing that, Lily stood from the bed and went about dressing. Teddy watched her move around the room, locating her discarded clothing with hungry eyes -- despite the visible evidence that he was thoroughly sated.

“Did it help?” he asked when she sat on the end of the bed to slip on her high heeled shoes.

Lily smiled at the memory of his hands and mouth on her body, phantom caresses. She barely even noted the untouched bottle of firewhiskey still on his nightstand. It hadn’t been necessary after all, not when she’d been drunk on Teddy instead. And he was more than enough.

“How’d you know I needed this?” she asked, referencing what he’d said to her in the pub the night before. The pink hair finally darkened to its familiar turquoise.

“I’ve been there. I’m familiar with the signs,” he said, a dark shadow crossing his face. His past returning to haunt him. Lily wondered how frequently that happened.

“Thank you. This was… more enlightening than you know,” she said sincerely, bending over to kiss him. His arms snaked around her, not letting her go.

“Look, my godfather is hosting a family luncheon today, and I think I’m going to drop in for it, but I’d like to see you again,” he said, running the tip of his nose along the length of hers.

Bloody hell. She’d forgotten all about it.

It was her parent’s turn to host Sunday brunch. Each family took turns holding the weekly meal, and Lily always helped her mum when their month came about. If she didn’t get there soon, Ginny Potter would send her husband out looking for their missing daughter, and she did not want the great Harry Potter discovering her in bed with his godson.

“I am certain that you will,” she said vaguely, wondering precisely how awkward this bunch was going to turn out to be after all the events of the night before. 

She’d sort of figured she’d have time to confess everything to Teddy before they ran into each other at a family function, and there wasn’t really time now. Looks like Al was right, and she was going to have to pay for her wild night of uninhibited freedom.

“You still haven’t told me your name,” he teased. It wasn’t like he’d ever asked, she mused blandly.

“You’ll figure it out,” she said, slipping out of his embrace before adding, “eventually.”

In a couple hours, actually. Wonderful.

“Okay, Hellcat. Challenge accepted,” he called merrily as she practically fled from the rented room.


	3. 3: Discovery, or How the Truth Will Set You Free

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J.K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 3: Discovery, or How the Truth Will Set You Free

Lily arrived at Grimmauld Place after a quick shower and a change of clothes. When she entered the kitchen, an apology on her lips for her tardiness, it vanished on the spot. 

“Seriously, guys?” she groaned, catching sight of her parents snogging. Harry had his hands braced on the counter top on either side of a flushed Ginny, whose hands happened to have a firm grip on Harry’s bum. 

It never ceased to amazed her how her parents couldn’t get enough of one another in the privacy of their home when they rarely ever touched in public aside from holding hands or a brief brush of the lips.

“Lily!” Harry cried with a cheeky grin as he broke away from his wife’s hold.

“Just the person I was hoping to see,” Ginny added, a bright smile spreading across her reddened face.

“I always help out when it’s our turn to host,” Lily said a touch defensively. Mostly out of guilt for being late.

As if they heard her thoughts, both of her parents glanced at the clock. Their family would be arriving any minute. She was much later than normal.

“I was worried you’d skip after yesterday,” Harry stated worriedly, assuming a protective air as he studied her with his Auror-trained eyes. No detail went uncatalogued when he had that look about him. It usually made hiding things a lost cause. 

She felt the unmistakable urge to check that there were no visible signs of what she’d recently been up to, love-bits or stubble-burn or the like, but still she insisted, “I’m fine, really.” 

“Ron’s not taking your father’s Floo calls,” Ginny announced meaningfully.

Lily rolled her eyes exasperatedly. She could just imagine how that all went down. Harry demanding to know what Ron’s daughter was thinking going after his daughter’s ex-boyfriend. No doubt Hermione had been the voice of reason and insisted Ron give Harry a chance to cool off before they saw each other at brunch, lest they say or do something unforgivable.

The night before had been a preview for today, with only the Potters and Granger-Weasleys in attendance at the Burrow for their grand announcement. The rest of the family would doubtless be hearing the news from the recently betrothed couple this morning.

“Now, none of that. No need to worry about me,” she insisted, surprised by how much she genuinely meant it. Funny how fulfilling a lifelong fantasy gave her perspective on the matter at hand.

Her parents were now both studying her, seeming stunned by what they saw. Lily watched as they exchanged a look, silently communicating in a way she someday hoped to be able to do with a partner she loved as fiercely as they loved one another. Nearly all of the couples in her family set the bar pretty high as far as role models went. It was impossible not to want the same for herself.

“Yes, you look strangely --”

“Dad! You’ll never guess what I -- oh, hi, Lils,” Jamie yelled, skidding to a stop in the middle of the kitchen, his professional Quidditch reflexes the only thing stopping him from face planting. 

Al came barrelling in close behind their elder brother. Al gave her an assessing look, reminiscent of the ones her parents had leveled her with minutes earlier. Again, Lily found herself rolling her eyes.

She wished they’d all stop treating her like she was a ticking time bomb. Or a spun glass flower. Lily Potter had never been delicate. It would take far more to break her than an ex-boyfriend.

“Well? Don’t leave me hanging in suspense all day here,” Harry said easily, moving to ruffle Jamie’s hair playfully.

“Teddy’s back!” Jamie cried.

“What? How do you know that?” Harry said, unmistakable hope and longing woven around his question.

“You’ve just gotten an owl ‘bout it. I read it,” Jamie announced proudly, waving the parchment over his head. Lily smothered a grin at her brother’s antics, and noticed her mum doing the same thing.

“Oi! Give it over,” Harry called, snatching it from his mischievous son’s hand. “And Jamie, don’t think we’ll not be discussing your persistent bad behavior later. Fully grown and still you --”

“Bugger that, Teddy’s finally home!” he cried, dancing about the kitchen like he was a three-year-old, rather than twenty-three.

“James Sirius Potter, you watch your mouth in this house!” Ginny scolded, but she too was grinning happily. Their family was finally whole again.

“I take it you never told him,” Al sidled up to whisper in her ear.

“No,” she hissed, giving him a quelling look for bringing it up in front of everyone.

“Lily!” he sighed, clearly exasperated with her. 

“He never asked!” she said defensively, careful to keep her voice low.

No one paid them the least bit of attention, the other three Potters all caught up with the short letter Teddy had sent around. Probably right after she’d left his room at the Three Broomsticks.

“Al, last night…” Lily began, swallowing as flashes of her time with Teddy floated through her mind.

She felt like she was in a free fall. Her whole world seemed to have flipped upside down overnight, and she couldn’t tell left from right anymore. Was it truly possibly for a single encounter to reshape her worldviews as well as everything she thought she knew? Or was this all an overreaction on her body’s behalf to the pleasure Teddy had given her so soon after Scor’s shocking announcement? 

She honestly couldn’t tell, and she wanted someone else to help her rationalize everything.

“You’re my baby sister, let’s not go there,” Al stated emphatically, obviously uncomfortable with hearing any details about what she’d gotten up to.

He’d been the same way when she and Scor, his long time best mate, got together back at Hogwarts. He swore up and down that he didn’t mind them dating, he just didn’t want to see any evidence of it happening or hear about it.

Al was far more private than any of the other Weasleys and Potters. It wasn’t until he’d been seeing Cara for nearly nine months that he brought her around to meet the rest of the Potters, and it’d been another four months before he took her round the Burrow to meet the rest of the family. Lily expected him to propose sometime soon, though he’d not hinted about it, and likely wouldn’t share until after he’d secured a yes.

Lily wished she could talk to someone about what happened the night before, but Rose was out -- for obvious reasons, and her closest friend these days was Dominique. Given the man in question, she couldn’t go to her cousin about it either.

“He’ll be here in an hour,” Harry announced, finally getting a chance to read the whole letter between telling Jamie off and answering his barrage of questions from Ginny. “About the same time as everyone else.”

“I best warn Bill and Fleur,” Ginny said sadly, brushing Harry’s outstretched hand as she left to Floo her eldest brother.

Silence descended in the wake of the painful reminder of the past. Then Jamie, with his usual flare and knack for easing situations, broke the tension by asking, “Lils, need help getting set up outside?”

“Thanks,” she said, gratefully accepting his offer -- anything to temporarily escape Al’s disapproving looks.

It was much warmer outside than normal for the end of March in London. The sun was even trying to make an appearance, though Lily doubted it would last for too long. They’d long ago mastered erecting the necessary charms to host the gathering outside, rain or shine. It’d become necessary to move things outside where their numbers had started routinely surpassing twenty guests. These days it was more common to have close to thirty-five people show up to the traditional meal.

Each month a different branch of the family hosted a weekly Sunday brunch, with Gran and Pops taking the extra months. It’d changed a few times over the years, but March had always been the Potters’. It hadn’t even registered with her that morning that Teddy had remembered that little detail.

“Can you believe it? After all this time, I didn’t think he’d ever come back,” Jamie said, excitement thrumming through him. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet with excess energy. Practice that morning must not have been too difficult.

“So you don’t know what prompted his sudden return?” Lily asked, feigning a casualness that she didn’t really feel. She’d tried to ask Teddy the night before, but he’d dodged the question, reluctant to discuss such a private matter with a ‘stranger’.

“Not a clue. Could be his birthday in a few weeks,” he suggested, but frowned. That’d never been enough to bring him home in the past. “Maybe he’s finally got a new bird. Can’t pine over Victorie forever, can he?”

“No, I suppose not,” Lily mused, wondering if that were true. Part of hoped so more than she expected.

“Think he’ll need a place to stay?” Jamie asked suddenly, a gleam of anticipation stealing over his face.

“I think Aiyana will curse your bollocks off if you dare offer him your guest room. She barely sees you as it is,” Lily warned dryly. His girlfriend already put up with far too much. The witch was a veritable saint to deal with his fame as an International Quidditch Star, and Harry Potter’s eldest son to boot. 

“Yeah, I reckon you’re right,” he said, sighing in disappointment as he arranged seats around the table. Lily shook her head at him fondly, and continued silently summoning the place settings.

“You don’t even know how long he’s staying for,” Lily reminded him, trying not to get her own hopes up as she tucked a long lock of hair behind her ear. It would be really nice to see if last night might be more than a one off.

“Yeah, I do! He said he’s back to stay in his letter,” Jamie informed her cheerily.

“He did?” she breathed, heart suddenly pounding in her ears. The staccato beat drown out the sound of everything else. 

Had he decided that before they’d slept together or after? Merlin, she was being ridiculous! She’d not even been this turned inside out over a bloke when she’d been a teenager!

“You all right there, Lils? You look -- bollocks! I didn’t even think to ask. How you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” she said for the upteenth time since the evening before.

“Want me to hex him for you?” Jamie asked a little too eagerly. He and Scor had never ended up friends. Not even when Scor started spending a couple weeks with Al every summer. 

“No, Jamie,” she refused, laughing at his crestfallen expression, “that won’t be necessary.”

“Guess not. You were the one to end things anyways,” he said, shrugging as he slumped into a chair, their preparations complete.

“Mhh,” she hummed noncommittally. Was that really how everyone viewed the situation? It didn’t go down quite that way, but she supposed it was close enough to the truth. Jamie’s questioning look had her repeating, “I’m fine -- seriously.” 

“That right? Cause Al may have mentioned --”

“What did Al tell you?” she demanded sharply, voice coming out higher than she’d meant it to.

Bloody hell! He wouldn’t have told him about the night before, would he?

“That Rosie asked you to be in the wedding. Never thought she’d feel the need to mark her territory like that,” he said, frowning at the thought.

Lily hadn’t thought of it that way before, but she had no doubts that he was mistaken. Rose was a lot of things, but deceptive would never be a quality attributed to her. Neither would possessiveness or low self-esteem. Rose asking Lily to be her Maid of Honor wasn’t about ulterior motives. It was nothing more or less than Rose wanting Lily to be part of the most important day of her life.

“She’s got nothing to worry about from me. Scor and I are over,” Lily said lightly, and was surprised to find the words flowing smoothly from her mouth, even if they still hurt a bit more than she’d like for them to.

“‘Course you are. Dad always said you were all wrong for one another,” Jamie said absently, thoroughly startling Lily.

“He did?” she gasped, stunned. Harry had never once indicated he felt that way to her. He’d never been anything but supportive of her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy, the prince of Slytherin. 

“Yeah. You’re -- Teddy!” Jamie cried, cutting himself off as he bolted out of his seat and raced towards the duo that had just exited the house.

Lily watched, feeling unaccountably nervous, as a smiling Teddy, Harry’s arm looped around his neck, was tackled by an exuberant Jamie. Their happy reunion continued, and Lily found herself growing more anxious by the second as she waited for him to notice her. 

Was Al correct? Had she made a mistake the night before in not telling him who she was? It wasn’t as though he’d asked -- not until she was getting ready to leave. But she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he never would have shagged her if he’d known exactly who she was when he approached her in the pub.

Lily had just stood up, deciding to get it over with when he finally noticed her. She saw the shocked recognition cross his face. 

“Who…” he breathed, but then it dawn on him. “Lily.” The last was a statement, but enough of a reaction that it earned a comment.

“I know. My baby went and grew up,” Harry said, assuming a put upon air.

Teddy continued to stare at her, expression unreadable. She offered him a strained smile, and that seemed to break the spell. He returned to his conversation with the two males as though nothing had happened.

Uncomfortable, Lily slipped around the group and made her way back to the kitchen. A number of her family were inside, having just arrived, and she greeted them without really noticing who she spoke with. 

“How’d he take it?” Al asked, far too amused for her liking.

She listened with half an ear as more people arrived, all of them shuffling out to the back garden Lily had just vacated.

“Bout like you’d expect,” she answered truthfully. She’d not known what she’d have said if it went any differently.

“I warned you,” Al taunted, ever the older, ‘wiser’ brother.

“No need for I told you so's,” she chided, swatting his arm. 

“Lily, we need to -- oh, hi, Al,” Teddy said, rubbing the back of his neck as he’d done the night before when she’d made his hair turn shocking pink -- the first time.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Al said drolly, not even trying to pretend he didn’t know what was going on between them. Then, more pointedly at Lily, he quipped, “Good luck.”

“You told him?” he asked, clearly startled.

“He was there last night,” she confessed, wincing slightly.

“Right. And Harry? Merlin, Lily! Harry is going to have my balls for daring to touch --”

“He’ll do no such thing,” she snapped, flustered at the idea of her father learning what she’d gotten up to, and who she’d done it with.

Her waspish tone had him biting back a smile.

“I can’t believe…” he trailed off staring intently at her. 

Lily gasped when his eyes darkened to the same shade of night sky that she’d seen the night before, an obvious signal of his desire for her. She’d not expected him to react like that. She’d been preparing herself to handle anger -- not arousal.

Nor had she expected to find herself reacting in turn. Her knees felt weak, barely able to support her weight in the face of his heated gaze. 

“Why?” he asked, prowling closer.

“I thought we already covered that,” she said, her voice sounding husky to her own ears.

“So we did, Hellcat,” he agreed, his eyes dipped down to her lips.

“Teddy,” she breathed, his name lost in the noise coming from the hall. In particular, a voice speaking in heavily accented English.

The sound of her aunt’s distinctive voice now mentioning Teddy’s name immediately broke the spell, ruining the moment. Teddy straightened, retreating several steps and closing his eyes as he swallowed. Lily watched his throat work as she debated what to say.

Weariness encroached all around him, and she realized there was nothing for it except to acknowledge what was happening. “Uncle Bill will be here soon,” she warned quietly.

“I figured he would be,” Teddy said, regaining his composure enough to look at her.

“Want me to get Dad for you?” she offered. Sympathy for this difficult situation outshone everything else going on between them.

“No. I’ve finally made my peace with what happened,” he stated, sincerity ringing in his words. “I have to face him sooner or later.”

“What happened to Victorie wasn’t your fault. None of us blamed you -- least of all Bill,” she said, hoping he knew that, hoping he wouldn’t leave again. Not now.

Victorie’s absence was a wound to this day, but it was no longer the open, festering thing it had once been. No more than Fred’s was. Time had allowed them to scar. Reminders that occasionally ached, but were no longer potentially fatal.

“I know that, but I still blamed myself,” he acknowledged, pain marring his features.

“What happened to Victorie was as much about Harry and me as it was you and your father,” Bill said firmly, his voice carrying from the open doorway.

“Bill,” Teddy greeted. She couldn’t help but think he looked very young in that moment. Still the teen he’d been when he left all those years ago.

“It’s good to have you home -- where you belong,” Bill said warmly, coming further into the room. Lily took in the scars on his face, somehow more pronounced in light of the current topic.

The two men embraced, and Lily stepped out to give them some much needed, and long overdue privacy.

Throughout the meal, she and Teddy exchanged covert looks. It was a welcome distraction from Scor and Rose gushing about their upcoming wedding. Particularly when it was so obviously apparent how truly in love the pair was. 

Lily felt like she was on a nonstop, out-of-control roller coaster as the conversation volleyed between Rose and Scor’s surprise engagement and Teddy’s return.

Eventually, her head couldn’t take anymore, and Ginny saved her, offering her the opportunity to start the dishes as soon as the first of the guests departed. Normally, they waited until everyone had gone then did them together. Lily could have kissed her mum for being so perceptive.

Teddy joined her shortly after she entered the kitchen.

“You knew who I was all along,” he said curiously, moving to stand beside her. He accepted the wet dish from her and dried it as he waited for her to answer.

“I did,” she said simply. There was no point denying it. He would always be recognizable to her.

“And you slept with me?” he stated, making it sound more like a question. She raised a brow at him and handed over another dish.

“You slept with me. Three times. And you never even asked my name. I don’t really see the difference,” she said, shrugging lightly.

“The difference is, you’re Harry’s daughter,” he said pointedly, grabbing her hand to stop her reaching for another dish. 

Her wet fingers slid against his, and they both stared at their joined hands a moment before she replied, “And you’re his godson. That doesn’t make us related.”

“I was there when you were born,” he said, frowning.

“And it’s been over a decade since we last saw each other,” she countered, startled to find herself enjoying their back-and-forth. It was the most engaging conversation she’d had in a long time. He put her on her toes, but in a good way.

“But --”

“But I grew up in the meantime? Yeah, that tends to happen,” she sassed, biting her lip to hold back her smile.

“You’re, you’re…”

“A twenty-year-old adult with a flat, and a job? I know. I’m two months away from sitting my qualifying exams and starting my Healer fellowship,” she fired off, truly enjoying herself. He gripped her hand tighter.

“What have you decided on?” he asked suddenly, changing gears on a Knut.

“Artifact accidents,” she replied.

“You want the daily rush of new catastrophes to sort out,” he guessed, brushing his thumb across the back of her hand. “And then the chance to go home every night.”

He got it so quickly, understood her so easily. She was stunned. That’s exactly what she craved -- challenge and excitement, but family too. Growing up, she saw how sad her dad was whenever her mum went out of town on an assignment for the Prophet. It was the same for Aiyana when Jamie had away games. 

Lily wanted regular companionship with her partner. Maybe that was the real reason she’d wanted Scor back these last few months. She was lonely and with exams coming up, she’d not had time to try and find love elsewhere.

“That’s it exactly,” she said quietly.

“I might not have known your name, but I have always known you, Lily Luna Potter,” Teddy announced, face once more unreadable even as he abruptly released her hand.

“I’m not a girl anymore,” Lily warned.

“You certainly proved that,” he said bluntly, giving her body a frank once over and shaking his head ruefully. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. I can’t believe we lost touch.”

“I stopped owling you right after Scorpius and I got together,” she said, not knowing why she felt the need to explain, only that she did.

“He was jealous,” Teddy guessed. It had been completely irrational at the time. Teddy hadn’t seen her as anything more than a child, but Scor had known she once fancied the metamorphmagus, and he’d made sure she knew how little he liked her owling the other man.

“Yes,” she said, smiling despite herself as she thought back to the start of her fourth year. She’d been so young and silly back then.

“Do you still love him?” Teddy asked, scanning her face.

“I don’t know. I thought I did, but after last night…”

“Let me know once you’ve sorted it out,” he requested, backing up until there was a little more space between them.

“And in the meantime?” she asked, wondering if he was interested in repeating the night before. His actions so far made it pretty clear he wasn’t completely averse to the idea. And frankly, neither was she.

“I have no intention of carrying on a fling with you. I won’t do that to Harry,” Teddy stated flatly, his tone making it clear that wasn’t up for debate.

Hurt and rejected swelled within her chest, a rapidly filling balloon, but she quickly squashed it, realizing she was overreacting. Probably because of all the ups and downs of the last two days.

“Fling?” she questioned, thinking over his words more carefully. That word, in particular, stuck out to snag her attention. Teddy pierced her with a scorching look. “Then…”

“You just found out Scorpius is with Rose. Let’s give you time to properly digest that,” he suggested sagely.

Lily wanted to be angry that he was dictating the terms of their relationship, but logic prevailed, and she knew that he was right. 

When she nodded, he offered her a warm smile and returned to helping her with the remaining dishes. 

It wasn’t a no. Not really, at least not forever. The thought made Lily grin.


	4. 4: Fairy Tales, or Once Upon a Time

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J.K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 4: Fairy Tales, or Once Upon a Time

Initially, Lily had been worried that Teddy was going to avoid her while he gave her space to sort out what she wanted, since it’d have to be real if they were to be together again intimately. He hadn’t. 

It was the exact opposite, in fact. 

He showed up everywhere. Hardly a day went by that she didn’t see him. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear he was wooing her. Giving her a chance to slowly fall in love with him as he did the same with her.

When she went to the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer with friends or family, he inevitably found himself there as well. They’d laugh and joke, occasionally dance or buy the other a round. All in all, they’d have a good time.

At least four times a week he showed up at St. Mungo’s to take her to lunch. After the third time, she rather reluctantly admitted that she usually used that time to study, and therefore couldn’t catch up with him anymore. The very next day he’d shown up with a number of books, and had spent an hour quizzing her on all manner of subjects that were wont to come up on her exams. A practice he’d continued regularly for the following eight weeks as he’d helped her prepare for the test that determined the rest of her life.

Teddy was with her right up until she sat her exams, then he’d taken her out to celebrate after she’d passed them.

That wasn’t the only celebration they’d enjoyed since he returned either. They’d gone all out for his thirtieth birthday, even when he’d groaned and complained that he was now too old for such antics. Then there’d been the Ministry gala he’d been invited to that he’d dragged her along to keep him company. They’d also done the annual Remembrance Day activities to commemorate the Battle of Hogwarts -- the day Teddy had become an orphan and the anniversary of his deceased ex-fiancee's birthday. That had been a hard day for most of her family, but Teddy in particular. He’d repeatedly thanked her for seeing him through it.

Then there had been all of the normal family gatherings. He’d shown up to every weekly brunch, birthday party and Potter family dinner that had been held since he returned. Most of which, he spent bantering with her. At least he did when Jamie wasn’t monopolizing his time -- a fact she found highly amusing. 

Jamie was the famous one, the one everyone in the wizarding world fawned over. But for him, no one was cooler or more entertaining than Teddy Lupin. Teddy, the newly appointed Editor for the _Quibbler_. Recently returned from over a decade spent writing stories and hunting down exotic magical creatures for Luna Scamander nee Lovegood. 

Of course, that had been when he wasn’t playing babysitter to Luna’s rambunctious ten-year-old twins. She’d been freshly pregnant when Teddy first joined her and her husband abroad. Lily had learned over the past weeks that Teddy had come to mean to them what Harry did to him, or thereabouts. 

Throughout the three and a half months he’d been back, they’d slowly gotten to know the people they’d each become since they’d last known one another. Teddy was funny, compassionate, family-oriented, intelligent, sexy, thoughtful -- the list went on and on. 

It was nice. Wonderful even. Or it would have been -- if he wasn’t methodically driving her insane!

Because the one thing he’d not done in the fifteen weeks he’d been there, was touch her. Not even a friendly hug. There was absolutely nothing romantic about the time they spent together. And despite that, she was having more fun with her friend, Teddy, than she’d had in a very long time. Possibly ever. 

Lily would have believed he wasn’t interested in her too, if not for the fact that his eyes always turned a deep, dark navy when he looked at her for too long. Sometimes, they’d even get little white flecks that really did make them look like the night sky. Endless and dazzling.

“What’s happening between the two of you?” Ginny said, cornering her daughter after dinner that night. 

Teddy had left moments before Ginny entered after having remained to help her with the dishes as he always did anymore, taking over what had once been a task she and her mum did together. Usually because Harry did nearly all of the cooking, with Jamie and Al’s grudging help.

To ask Ginny Potter to prepare a meal was to get a slice of bread and a hunk of cheese. And to question where the rest was, was to be told to either fend for oneself or to visit the Burrow. Great mum, yes. Domestic witch, no. 

And Lily loved her mum so much more for her honest representation of herself. Not that Gran hadn’t made sure Mum knew how to cook, she just refused. It had been a welcome example for Lily growing up -- proof that she didn’t have to follow in her parents’ footsteps, and could instead be exactly what she wanted. Herself. Because that was exactly right, and who she should be.

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently, though internally she winced. 

The looks she and Teddy had exchanged throughout dinner were getting more pointed, and once, when she’d passed him the potatoes and their hands had accidentally brushed, the tips of his hair had turned that particular shade of brilliant pink and he’d groaned audibly. 

Her mouth had gone dry at the visual indicator of his emotions, and her breath had caught as she stared at him wonderingly.

“Give me some credit, Lily. I was young once too,” Ginny said, sighing exasperatedly. “Besides, I know my children.”

Of course Ginny had noticed something. Her mum was a reporter for Merlin’s sake! And she and Teddy weren’t exactly being shy about… well, whatever it was they were doing. Not that she even had a clue what that was at this point.

All Lily was certain of, was that she was about to go out of her mind if something didn’t give soon. The mounting tension was driving her mad!

“You can’t tell dad,” Lily said, pleading with her mum to keep her confidence. 

She felt ready to burst if she didn’t tell someone and hear what they thought of it all. What if she was reading too much into things? What if she only saw what she wanted to see? What if he just felt guilty for shagging her and was trying to make amends out of loyalty to Harry?

“I don’t keep secrets from your father,” Ginny chided, raising her brows at the unusual request. 

Lily felt her lips tilt up at the reminder. Ginny and Harry were always wonderfully, refreshingly frank with one another. All of their children took their cues from them as far as how they conducted their own relationships.

“Please, Mum?” she begged. “You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t that important to me, but I don’t want to spoil things before I’ve a chance to get right with it.”

Ginny studied her, reaching out to run a gentle hand over Lily’s head. She pushed Lily’s long, thick hair back behind her shoulder as she nodded, agreeing, “All right, I’ll wait to say anything to Harry until you’re ready for him to know.”

“I slept with Teddy -- the night I found out about Scor and Rose,” she blurted, wishing she’d taken a moment to think of a better way to phrase it.

“Well, that’s a bit more than I was expecting to hear,” Ginny said, quickly rearranging her startled expression into one better suited for encouraging her daughter to continue confiding in her. “I thought you were just going to tell me you fancy him again,” she admitted after taking a minute to wrap her head around what Lily admitted to.

“I do rather fancy him quite a lot. Is it that obvious?” Lily asked, worried that she might be making a fool of herself, and Teddy was only being kind to spare her. 

She nearly snorted at her over-dramatic mind. Of course it wasn’t that. She’d not asked him to keep coming ‘round, and certainly not as frequently as he did. Something she had no doubt he wouldn’t do if he didn’t want to be there. Teddy was a grown man, capable of deciding and doing precisely what he wished to. That was part of why it meant so much to her that he sought her company as often as he did.

“I’ve always been able to read you,” Ginny assured her, smiling indulgently.

“He didn’t realize it was me,” Lily confessed quietly, glancing down at her clasped hands as she picked at a broken fingernail.

When she darted a glance at her mum, Ginny was assessing her with a critical eye. Finally, Ginny said ruefully, “Understandable.” She gave a disbelieving little huff before continuing, “It had been a very long time, and a lot changed while he was away.”

“We haven’t been intimate again since that first night,” Lily said quietly, letting her frustration and insecurity over the fact show through.

“How come?” Ginny asked, genuinely startled by her daughter’s revelation, and not for the first time that evening.

“He’s giving me time to get over Scor,” Lily said flatly. Idly, she wondered if that was still the case. Not once, in all these weeks had Teddy mentioned Scorpius, or their night together for that matter. It was as though neither ever happened. 

“Teddy has always been very considerate -- takes after his father that way. But it’s been nearly a year. I think you’ve done a rather fine job moving on, don’t you?” Ginny said dryly, making it clear she found the notion ridiculous.

“Most of the time, yeah. But occasionally… Well, I just don’t know,” Lily said, flustered enough to throw her arms in the air before burying her face in her hands and groaning.

The memory of how they’d first gotten together flashed through her mind.

_She’d been delightedly laughing and spinning in circles by the Black Lake. It was the beginning of November, but the sun was shining, ending the recent cold snap. More importantly, she’d just turned fifteen, Gryffindor had won their Quidditch match the day before, and Gryffindor was in the lead in terms of house points. This year couldn’t get any better!_

_“Lily, Jason Wood is watching you. He’s been staring at you all morning,” Roxy exclaimed loudly, sounding amazed._

_Lily had abruptly stopped, freezing on the spot and feeling her jaw fall open in response. Jason was the sixth year Quidditch captain for Gryffindor. She couldn’t wrap her mind around why he’d even notice a tiny fourth year like her, especially not in the way her cousin Roxy was implying he was looking at her._

_“He’s watching because you’re a Potter, and you are making a fool of yourself. Not because he’s interested in an ugly little girl like you,” Liam Nott sneered, having heard Roxy’s rather bold statement from his spot with several fifth year Slytherins. Al seemed to be the only one missing right then, in fact._

_Lily swallowed, biting back tears. It wasn’t the first time someone had suggested that her only worth was her last name, but it never stung any less when she heard the familiar cutting taunt. Especially considering she’d yet to have a growth spurt, and was easily as short as many of the first years._

_“Ignore him, Lils. You know it isn’t true,” Scor whispered in her ear, having come over the minute his housemate began speaking._

_“Yeah? If it isn’t true, you’d kiss me just to show him,” she said brazenly, wanting desperately to prove the insufferable, and degrading Nott wrong._

_“What?” Scor gasped, his eyes going wide at the suggestion as he stared down at her, clearly alarmed. “Lils,” he whispered, hidden meaning in his voice, a plea, as he breathed her name._

_Lily took advantage of his stupor to lean up and press a kiss to his lips, hoping he’d be polite enough not to shove her away. Maybe he’d even brag about it later, really talk her up to help her out._

_He hadn’t pushed her away. Far from it._

_Instead, he’d caught her about the waist when she’d broken it off and claimed her lips again in a kiss so hot the whole school had been talking about it for weeks. Months even._

_It had been an exciting whirlwind, and Lily had been willingly sucked into it, eager for all the secrets and discoveries it entailed._

_They were a couple from that point on. And that had been the most demonstrative moment of their entire relationship._

“I think that’s fairly normal. He was your first love. But when it came down to it, you didn’t love him enough to make any grand gestures,” Ginny said astutely. 

It all made sense. Particularly in light of the fact that Scorpius was gone for months before she ever even missed him. 

But she still didn’t _know_. Not for certain. And this… flirtation, relationship, whatever it was she was engaging in with Teddy, was too important to dive into blindly. Even if that was precisely how it started out back at the pub that night.

He was right. They couldn’t have a casual fling. Not with how entwined he was with her family. If it was going to happen, they needed to be sure they had a solid foundation first.

Was that what he’d been doing these last couple months? Showing her they could build something lasting. That the base for something more was there. Maybe had even been there for a while? 

Lily noticed Ginny’s curious expression, and realized she’d yet to respond to her mum’s hidden, though no less probing question, “No, I didn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that things with Scor are still so unfinished. We never really had any closure -- it was just over, and he was gone.”

“And Teddy? How do you feel about him? I mean, really, in your heart of hearts, feel,” Ginny asked, smiling faintly, as though she already knew the answer and just wanted to hear Lily admit it aloud.

“I have no idea,” she lied, because Lily had a very good idea of exactly how she felt about him. An idea that was becoming clearer by the second. Or at least each encounter.

“It’s all right to be scared of what you’re feeling,” Ginny said softly, running her hand through Lily’s hair soothingly.

“Do you think he’s still in love with Victorie?” Lily asked suddenly, voicing a private fear she’d been unwilling to confront before now. It was miserable feeling like she’d never measure up to a ghost.

“I think a part of him will always love her, their relationship was more an idea than a reality if we’re being honest. All infatuation and idealism. But he’s not the same person he was when she was alive and they were together,” Ginny said sadly, the losses of the past forever destined to haunt them.

Though Ginny had a point. Teddy and Victorie had started dating just before she started her seventh year at Hogwarts -- with Jamie spilling the beans at Platform nine and three quarters. He’d already graduated by then, and they’d carried on mostly through letters and four-hour long romantic visits during the occasional Hogsmeade weekend. 

It had come as a shock to everyone when he’d proposed to her the day she graduated from Hogwarts. The whole family had converged on the couple, advising them to wait and reminding them that there was no need to be in such a rush. Then, barely two months later, she’d been murdered by Greyback while they’d only barely started planning for their wedding.

“I don’t think so either,” Lily acknowledged, having already come to the same conclusion herself as she’d gotten to know the person he was since his return. Honestly, she much preferred this version to the reserved, often timid and unsure teen he’d been before he left.

“They were so young,” Ginny mused, seeming to look inward as she spoke.

“No different than you and dad,” Lily quickly pointed out. “Or Dad’s parents.” Three out of the four had been only eighteen when they married. Harry was only a little older at nineteen. 

Most individuals in the wizarding world married young. Too young maybe. Half her friends from her year at Hogwarts were already married, and now Rose, only a year ahead of her was set to do the same. And she doubted either Jamie or Al would wait another year before proposing.

“Or Ron and Hermione -- and look at them. They’ve not had an easy time of it,” Ginny counter ruefully.

Ron had taken up residence in their guest room on a fairly regular basis when she’d still been living at home. Probably, he still did a few times a month. There’d even been a couple times everyone was sure Ron and Hermione were well and truly over. Somehow they always managed to figure it out in the end, but that was not the sort of relationship Lily could ever imagine desiring for herself. Far too turbulent.

“Because they’re so different. Just like Teddy and Victorie were. I see your point,” Lily said, smiling in surrender. “What did you mean earlier, about Teddy being just like his father?”

“Oh, just that Remus was incredibly compassionate and understanding. After what happened to me in the Chamber of Secrets, Remus was the only one I could talk to,” Ginny admitted, referencing the story Lily had heard many times over the years about what happened to her parents.

“What about Dad?” Lily demanded, startled.

“Your father had other worries back then, and I was only his best mate’s little sister at the time,” Ginny said easily, smiling at some memory. Kind of like how she used to be only Teddy’s godfather’s daughter.

“And our family didn’t talk to you about it?” Lily pressed, amazed. She knew if the same had happened to her, Al would have watched her like a hawk afterwards, demanding they discuss it to death. 

Lily supposed it was no wonder that he’d become a grief counselor, the equivalent to a Muggle therapist. He spent all day listening to others’ problems and helping them sort them out.

“They were too relieved that I’d lived. They didn’t want to dwell. But Remus took the time to talk to me in the aftermath, he helped me process everything and come to terms with it.”

“Yeah, that sounds a lot like Teddy,” Lily agreed, smiling as she thought over all their conversations in the last few months.

“Things will work out the way they’re meant to. I’m sure of it,” Ginny promised, hugging Lily tightly.

“Thanks, Mum,” she breathed, feeling significantly clearer after their talk.

Now if only she could figure out a good way to bring it up with Teddy. Or know for sure she had the closure she desired with Scor.


	5. 5: How Did We Get Here?  Oh, Right -- That’s How.

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not JK Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 5: How Did We Get Here? Oh, Right -- That’s How.

It wasn’t until a week later, when she opened her door to find Scor, and all she felt was disappointment that it wasn’t Teddy standing there, that she knew for sure. Scor was her past. Teddy was her present, and hopefully her future too. 

“I know this conversation is long overdue,” he said quietly, shrugging a bit sheepishly. Lily watched him toe the ground with the point of his perfectly polished shoe, and was fondly reminded of why she’d fallen for him in the first place.

It was her first time seeing him since the weekend he and Rose had sprung their news on the family. They’d had to return to Paris for Scor’s job as a magical art dealer. At least, his apprenticeship to become an art dealer.

Art had always been his singular passion. He loved it fiercely. Could spend hours discussing a piece -- even after his audience had nodded off. A truth Lily was ashamed to admit had happened to her a number of times over the years. He’d dragged her all about the castle telling her the history of each and every portrait. And there were a _lot_ of paintings at Hogwarts. 

When he’d been offered an apprenticeship in Paris, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and he’d jumped at the chance. He spent most of each week traveling the world, viewing private collections and brokering deals with numerous wizarding families and various institutions.

It was what he’d always longed for. And honestly, it perfectly complemented Rose’s work as under-secretary to the British Wizarding Ambassador in France.

“I’ll say,” Lily quipped, amused despite herself. Her response had Scor instantly relaxing, and she nodded for him to come inside.

“Your mum saw me at Rose’s parents’ place, and suggested I come see you,” he informed her.

“Got to love meddlesome parents,” she groaned, shaking her head while privately thanking her mum for acting on what she’d told her before.

“You held your own,” he teased, reminding her of her owl campaign to win over Draco Malfoy’s approval back in her fourth year. 

She’d owled Draco daily, trying to convince him that she was perfect for Scor. It had taken nearly a month, but he’d finally replied that there was no one he’d rather his son be with, so long as she was equally determined to make Scorpius happy as she was to gain Draco’s approval.

“Yeah,” she grinned, knowing this wasn’t the time to get into that further.

“I wanted to tell you before the rest of your family, but…”

“It didn’t happen? Yeah, I was there. I remember,” she said, laughing at the blush staining his pale cheeks. He was always so proper and formal. She used to take it as a personal challenge to ruffle him up a bit.

“I never meant to hurt you. You know that’s the last thing I’d ever deliberately do,” he said quickly, seeming to feel the need to explain and apologize all in one breath.

“I know, Scor,” Lily acknowledged. A slight twinge still poked at her heart, but it was getting easier to ignore everyday. 

“I honestly didn’t think you’d even care, but I still owe you an explanation,” he continued, seeming unable to believe she’d already accepted his apology. She’d never let him off the hook so easily in the past. But things had been different between them then. It was easy to just let it go now.

“You don’t actually,” she denied, shaking her head and holding up her hand to stay his words.

It was amazing, but sometime in the last few months, she really had made peace with him getting involved with her cousin. It had just taken seeing him again to realize it.

“Lily, let me -- please,” he begged.

“All right,” she said softly, sensing that he needed to do this for his sake more than hers.

“I didn’t mean to fall in love with her,” he said, seeming slightly startled by the fact that he had. Rose was most definitely lovable though. She had a quality that drew a person in, an earnestness about her. Lily could easily imagine Scor becoming susceptible to it. “We were never even friends back at Hogwarts, despite Al trying to make us be. I’m sure you remember.”

She did. Clearly. Al and Rose had grown up best mates. Then Al had been sorted into Slytherin with Scorpius, and they’d hit it off instantly. Al had tried to merge the two halves of his life -- repeatedly -- to no avail. Rose and Scor were both too prissy and standoffish to not inadvertently insult the other on a regular basis. 

Rose abhorred pushing boundaries, and Scor was always so collected, that when they did manage to be around one another without saying or doing the wrong thing, it was a rather boring time. Lily honestly didn’t know what had changed, but she imagined that something must have for them to have been so happy during their last visit. 

“How did it happen?” Lily asked, genuinely curious to hear the story, something she could freely admit she hadn’t been ready for previously.

“When I first got to Paris, I was a wreck,” he said baldly, swallowing as he met her stare head on. His expression was so raw and vulnerable that Lily gasped. “You broke my heart, Lily,” he admitted thickly, his eyes shining with remembered emotion.

“Scor…” she breathed, ashamed to not have realized prior to this how deeply affected he was by her refusal to go with him. He’d not let on at all that last night.

“I always knew you would,” he said ruefully, but he gathered himself in a rush and continued doggedly. “Anyways. I tried dating. It was a disaster. One night I ran into Rosie when I was out. We got to talking. Then before I knew it, we were spending all of our free time together. After about a month of it, I got my nerve and kissed her, and... here we are now,” he said, glossing over the bits he correctly assumed she wouldn’t want details of.

“I never would have predicted the two of you together,” Lily mused, offering an understanding smile.

“It was always you for me growing up. I want you to know that. I wasn’t harboring a secret crush on your cousin or anything,” he said blandly, answering a question she’d not even known she had.

Silence followed the declaration. A profound understanding passing between them.

“But she had feelings for you?” Lily asked, though honestly, it was more a declaration as a million little clues came together for her. 

Rose’s unusually stiff interactions -- a mask for her true feelings. Her determination to beat him in every class and make sure he knew about it -- showing off and hoping he’d notice her. Her desire to work in Paris when her grandparents had tried to persuade her to move closer to them in Australia -- creating an opportunity for them because Scor was finally available.

Lily wished she’d known sooner, though she wasn’t sure what she’d have done differently if she had. Maybe things were simply meant to go down like this.

“I don’t know. She’s never said,” Scor said, making it clear that for him, at least, there was only him and Lily in the past, and him and Rose now.

“Oh, wow,” Lily murmured, not really knowing how to properly express her happiness that things had worked out the way they had for everyone involved.

“Congrats on your Healer exams. I’m glad you’re getting what you always wanted,” Scor said suddenly, his mind seeming to have gone down the same path as hers.

“Why’d you wait so long to ask me to go with you?” she asked. The question had been plaguing her for months after she learned from Mr. Malfoy that he’d known for weeks and not said a word. At first, it infuriated her, but later, considering it at all only generated a great deal of confusion on her part.

Their final conversation replayed in her head automatically as she referenced it.

_“I need to talk to you, Lily,” Scor said nervously._

_He’d dropped into St. Mungo’s around the time her shift was supposed to be ending. But since she was still a relative newbie, she was stuck staying late -- as she had nearly everyday since she started. The work was so fascinating, that she rarely even minded. Not even when it meant cancelling on Scor multiple times a week. Everyone insisted that it was only like that the first year, which was already nearly over. Amazing how quickly time flew._

_“Uh oh, sounds serious,” she said, distracted as she looked over the paperwork from her latest patient._

_She was scribbling down notes, largely ignoring Scor -- it wasn’t as though their conversation couldn’t wait until her day off on Thursday -- when he grabbed her hand and practically frog-marched her down the hall to where he knew her break room waited._

_“Oi! Merlin, what crawled up your arse tonight?” she grumbled, glaring at him as he shifted nervously._

_“I was offered an apprenticeship at Higgins and Delane -- that art acquisitions firm I was telling you about last month,” he announced. He’d applied the year before too, but they only accepted one application a year, and he’d not gotten it then._

_“Scor, that’s great!” she cried, genuinely pleased for him._

_No one was better suited for the job, or likely wanted it more. His mum, Astoria Malfoy, was a fairly well-regarded artist, and had instilled her love of it in him, educating him through the years. Their fortune and private collection had helped with it some too._

_“The job is based in Paris,” he reminded her._

_They’d talked about what would happen the summer before when he’d applied the first time, but they’d never come to a resolution before his rejection owl arrived. Guess the subject needed to be reopened now that it was actually happening._

_Wonderful._

_“Can this wait?”_

_“No,” he said, assessing her._

_“You’re leaving?” she stated numbly._

_“Come with me,” he whispered, a shadow of uncertainty passing over his ivory face, but it was gone so fast she was positive that she imagined it._

_“My life is here --_ our life is here,” _Lily insisted, listening to the cacophonous sounds of people moving about in the hallway outside their room. The familiar noise, a bustle she’d come to relish during the last few months._

_“That’s it? You won’t even think about it?” he inquired dully, staring at her blank-faced._

_“There’s nothing to think about!” she growled, frustrated that he’d put her on the spot after she’d just worked a twelve hour day and was likely going to be stuck another five hours yet. And that was if she was lucky._

_“I have to leave in the morning. We can start over there. Build a future together there instead. It’ll be --”_

_Her jaw fell open. Did he say morning? As in a few hours? Was he insane? There was no way! Simply no way. She’d not agree if they had a month to decide, let alone one night!_

_And that was the problem. She didn’t want to go. She had no intention of agreeing -- no matter the circumstances._

_“I can’t,” she whispered, averting her eyes._

_“You mean you won’t,” he stated flatly._

_“I mean I won’t,” she agreed, sighing resignedly._

_“Yeah, I --” Scor muttered, laughing bitterly. She finally looked up. He’d run his hand through his perfect platinum hair, messing it horribly. He’d be furious when he realized. He hated appearing less than pristine in public. “I figured you’d say that. Bye, Lily.”_

And that had been it. He’d asked once more, by owl, for her to reconsider. It’d been waiting when she got home later that night. When she’d sent an apologetic, and perhaps a tad resentful refusal, he’d gone anyway. 

“I spoke to Harry --”

Lily cut him off, demanding, “You talked to my dad about it?”

“Yeah. He’s Harry Potter. No way was I taking his precious baby girl out of the country without his blessing,” Scor said defensively, raising a brow at her as though she’d lost her mind to think it’d be any different. “You know how he is when it comes to his family.”

“Merlin,” Lily groaned miserably. She loved her father dearly, but did he have to intimidate everyone? Seriously?

Because he was absolutely correct. Harry was notoriously protective of his kids. He’d jumped through all sorts of hoops when they’d been at Hogwarts to allow them to train with Aurors during their summer Hols after Jamie started getting death threats -- people wanting revenge against Harry. 

Al and Lily had been required to train as well, to ensure they could look after themselves as well before they’d even been threatened. And of course they both had. Many times over the years. It never got any easier for any of them. 

Many of the Aurors that worked for Harry volunteered to help out, all of them respecting their boss immensely, and wanting to help him keep his kids safe. So she’d learned. And in the process realized she would never, in a million years, want to be an Auror herself.

“He warned me you’d say no,” Scor confessed, smiling ruefully.

“He did?” Lily asked, amazed. Did he truly know her so well? 

The rest of the family, immediate and extended, were all stunned. None of them had understood her decision -- not that she’d felt the need to explain herself to anyone. They were too nosy by half as it was. Not that she’d change a thing about any one of them.

Mr. Malfoy, too, had come to see her and asked her to reconsider. He’d always been the most vocally supportive of their relationship. At least after she won him over. 

Most of the time, she’d thought he gave her far too much credit for being responsible for his son’s happiness. He’d often admitted that he was worried his past would make Scor’s life unnecessarily difficult at Hogwarts, but between Al and Lily, Scor had always fit in and been accepted. 

“He said he liked me, and that he wished things were different because he’d love for me to become another son, but that my leaving meant I wasn’t the right bloke for you, and that you’d never agree to go,” Scor said succinctly. 

Lily could just imagine the conversation taking place. Harry had probably beat around the bush, not wanting to hurt Scor’s feelings before he’d bluntly laid it all out for him.

“I can’t believe he said that!”

“Sure you can’t,” he teased, knowing how well she knew her dad. “Well, he did, and I guess I knew he was right. So I put off asking as long as I could.”

“Then I said no,” she mused, wincing a little.

“You never even considered saying yes,” he sighed.

“I was just starting out at St. Mungo’s,” she reminded him defensively.

“You’re a Potter. You know Harry would have pulled strings for you if you wanted to transfer. The Paris medical center would have been thrilled to have you. All you’d needed to do was ask. The point is, you didn’t want to,” Scor said simply, stating a truth he’d long come to terms with, but was unmistakably still hurt over.

“I didn’t want to leave my family only to come home to a flat that was empty more often than not because you were out traveling for your art,” she confessed. 

Because at the heart of it all, had been a fear of loneliness and boredom. 

Lily had grown up constantly surrounded by people. She always craved that hustle and bustle. The nosy relatives and endless agenda of family gatherings. She couldn’t give it up. Not and still be happy. It was an essential part of her, and it wasn’t part of the new life Scor had entered -- as evidenced by his sum total of two visits since leaving. And that wasn’t a result of him avoiding running into her. He was just too busy to visit more frequently.

An owl pecked at her window. Lily apologetically shrugged, and went to retrieve the letter. She stared at the writing on the front. The familiar hand, easily recognizable. Anticipation filled her as it always did these days when she heard from him. 

“You going to read it? I can tell you’re dying to,” Scor said, eyeing her. She huffed, ignoring his scrutiny as she opened the missive.

_Hellcat,_

_I finally found a flat. Come check it out, if you’re up for it._

_Teddy_

They’d been looking for a new place for him for about a week. He was getting anxious to move out of Grimmauld Place. But this was the first time he’d called her Hellcat since he’d declared she needed space. 

And what did that mean, ‘if you’re up for it’ -- was that the invitation she’d been waiting for? 

A declaration he wanted her?

Or simply a reference to the fact it was late and he knew she’d worked all day? 

“You’ve met someone, haven’t you?” Scor said suddenly, comprehension dawning on his pale face.

Lily glanced at him, having temporarily forgotten that he was even there. “I think maybe I have,” she admitted ruefully. “Is it that obvious?”

“It is to me,” he said quietly, a bittersweet smile screwing his lips. It was sharp as glass, and frozen as a winter night.

“You’re happy with Rose, aren’t you?” she asked, suddenly alarmed.

“If I wasn’t -- you know what, I don’t want to know. Yes, the answer is yes. I love her, and she makes me happier than I thought possible,” he said, thawing at the reminder of the intelligent redhead whose heart he’d won so completely.

“That’s really great to hear,” Lily said sincerely, not wanting to know what he’d almost asked. She could hazard a guess, but she’d rather never know. They were well and truly through, and it was best to let it go.

“Rose and Mrs. Weasley are going dress shopping tomorrow. I know it would mean the world to her if you were there,” Scor said hopefully.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Lily promised, looking forward to the idea of spending the day with her aunt and cousin.

“Whoever he is -- he’s a lucky sod. I hope he knows that,” Scor said frankly.

“I’ll be sure to tell him you said so,” Lily said cheerily, giving him a saucy wink.

“See that you do,” he instructed, equally happy as he saw himself out, understanding as well as she that they’d just said their final farewells.

If his visit had told her anything -- apart from clarifying her romantic feelings -- it was that they had a real shot of being friends again.

More importantly, she had her answer. Those romantic feelings she had. She wasn’t still in love with Scor. Someone else, someone with turquoise hair and ever-changing eyes had taken up residence in her heart.


	6. 6: Jumping

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 6: Jumping

“I want to change my answer,” Lily announced before Teddy even had a chance to fully open the door to his new flat. 

Lily wasn’t completely sure Teddy was even actually interested in pursuing a relationship with her. He’d given no concrete signs or clear indications. But Lily knew she’d regret it if she didn’t let him know how she felt about him. And bravery was never a quality that she was lacking in.

“Answer to what?” Teddy asked, grinning at her flushed face and wild eyes.

She’d not even taken the time to brush her hair after Scor left. The riotous mass of red was precariously perched atop her head in a messy bun from work that day. At least she’d already changed out of her Healer robes when her ex arrived, or she’d have been wearing those as well. 

The precipice she stood on beckoned, urging her to jump. To dive headfirst into a glorious new adventure with the man before her.

“You asked me if I was still in love with Scor,” Lily said in a rush, scanning his face for any clues of how he felt about her. Hope seemed a dangerous emotion right then, but she’d always had a bit of a reckless streak -- just like her parents.

“And you said you didn’t know,” he readily reminded her, the answer coming so quick she thought he must think of it as frequently as she did.

There was something else too. Anticipation, bright as a sea of stars on a dark night. Confidence too, unwavering as a candle flame in an empty, calm room. 

It was enough to have Lily relaxing. She leaned casually against his door frame, using a shoulder to prop herself up. Teddy mirrored her insouciant pose, less than a foot separating them. It felt like an ocean, but one she was steadily crossing, the long awaited coast finally in sight.

“Well, now I know. So, go on -- ask me,” Lily instructed impatiently, fizzy bubbles popping enticingly in her veins, filling her with unmistakable eagerness.

“Are you still in love with Scorpius?” Teddy asked quietly, the tossing of a gauntlet. 

“No,” she breathed, staring imploringly up at him. “How can I be when I’m --”

Teddy cut her off, yanking her against his chest and ducking his head to capture her lips in a toe-curling, life-altering kiss. In an instant, Lily was molten lava, malleable in his skilled hands. He shaped her against him, exploring a body he’d known all too briefly that one pinnacle night. 

“I love you too, Hellcat,” Teddy announced, pulling back enough to see her face, a wicked gleam in his star-filled night eyes.

“You didn’t give me a chance to say it,” she whined despite the thrill coursing through her. 

He loved her. Teddy Lupin was in love with her. It was a million times better than her girlish fantasies. Their dynamics had shifted so completely that neither were really recognizable as the children they’d been. Yet somehow, they had ended up here -- a place where they could come together and be ecstatically, wonderfully happy.

“I’ve given you a hundred chances to say it over the last few months. Not my fault you were too blind and slow,” Teddy taunted, swinging the door wider and catching her hand in his. Sparks zinged where they touched and warmth made her insides gooey.

“Teddy Lupin, you’ll pay for that!” she gasped, attempting to sound disgruntled, but her laughter ruined the effect because he’d looped his arms about her waist and lifted her into his arms, crushing her to him.

“Promise?” he requested, the word sounding raspy as her legs locked about his waist and he carried her inside.

“Let’s -- where’s all your stuff?” Lily began, but was distracted by the fact that the entire place was completely empty. Her head whipped back and forth. Nope. Nothing. The room was completely empty.

“Oh, yeah… I don’t have any furniture yet,” Teddy admitted, looking about at the barren space.

The front room had an old marble fireplace on one wall and old, scarred hardwood floors. The ceiling was vaulted, and a little balcony opened up off the wall opposite the hearth. Two hallways led off the great room, and Lily guessed one went to the kitchen, and the other to the bedroom and bathroom. 

It was as nice as the other places they’d seen recently, though perhaps a bit smaller. Much more inviting than her own place, and right in the heart of London.

“You are such a guy,” she muttered ruefully, dipping her head to kiss him again, relishing the sensation of being in his arms and having the freedom to touch and kiss him.

“That’s part of my charm,” he agreed, smiling against her lips. Lily felt an answering grin stretch her own lips.

“What’d you end up deciding on?” she asked, unhooking her legs and sliding down his torso. The feel of his hard frame was intoxicating, and it took a second to get her head to stop spinning when he released her.

“Eight month lease,” he said, knowing what she was referring to given that they’d discussed it several times over the last few days. “I’m going to build a house in the meantime,” he announced, startling her. This was the first she was hearing of this plan.

“Where?”

“Holyhead,” he said lightly, though he was watching her intently.

Lily, turned from where she’d been checking out the view from his balcony and gasped, “Seriously? I love it there!”

“I know,” he admitted meaningfully.

Growing up, Ginny had taken her kids with her whenever she visited her old team. A couple times a month Gin liked to fly with them. Though she swore she didn’t regret giving up Quidditch to become a mother, she missed the thrill of playing the sport at that level. Jamie had told Lily a few times that he remembered them trying to recruit her to come back and play again after she had Lily, but Ginny had turned them down, knowing it’d take her away from home too much.

That hadn’t stopped her from visiting frequently though. Afterwards, they’d head into town and have a meal at one of the local stops where Harry would inevitably find them. Lily’s all time favorite pub was there. Her favorite pastry shop too. They made these little boysenberry tarts that she couldn’t get enough of.

“How long have you been planning this?” she asked suspiciously, moving to loop her arms around Teddy’s waist.

He returned the embrace easily, replying, “I’ve been thinking about it a few weeks now, but I decided for certain about five minutes ago when you got here.”

“You want it for us,” Lily said, the words escaping her the instant her mind jumped to the logical conclusion. 

“We’ll have been together a year at that point, so it’s not like we’d be rushing,” he explained rationally, though she heard the uncertainty underlying his words. Not to mention the tips of his hair had turned a pale pink. The little visual cues of his emotions were utterly adorable -- not that he found the same amusement in them that she did. Pointing it out usually earned her a fierce glower.

The color let her know that he was worried she’d refuse right now though. Honestly, it sounded marvelous to her. She loved the idea of settling down, even more so if she got to do it with him.

Lily went up on her toes to kiss his cheek, silently telling him she was onboard, while aloud, she demanded, “A year?” How did he figure that?

“Lily, we’ve been dating for four months now,” Teddy said slowly, as though worried at her ability to comprehend should he speak any faster.

“No, we haven’t -- that doesn’t count,” she laughed, pushing him. 

He didn’t budge, too strong for her move unless he willed it. That strength made her want to curl up beside him, knowing he’d always look out for her. It was comforting. Not to mention sexy as hell.

“Just because we weren’t shagging -- the whole time -- doesn’t mean we weren’t together,” he stated gravely, though his smirk at the memory of how they had that first night made her cheeks warm.

“You may have a point,” she conceded, realizing that they had been. 

They did everything together these days. He was the one she confided in after a rough shift at the hospital. She was the one he shared all the stories from his travels with. They attended parties and functions together. More than half their meals were eaten together each week. 

“We aren’t kids anymore. I’ve dated a fair amount, and learned quite a bit over the years -- enough that I don’t want to make the same mistakes I have in the past,” he said simply, cupping her cheek tenderly. Her eyes closed to savor the feel. She’d missed his touch and the emotions it invoked in her. “I know what I want and need to make me happy. You’re it. You’re everything,” he confessed, laying his heart bare for her.

“You’re what I want to,” she breathed, forcing the words past the thick lump in her throat. Emotion had welled up to make speaking nearly impossible.

“Just in case, I’ll take it a little slower for your sake. We can spend the next eight months getting settled before we live together,” he offered, though it sounded like a huge concession for him. She liked thinking he didn’t want to wait to be with her permanently. 

Yet at the same time, she was grateful that they weren’t rushing in. She remembered what her family had said about him and Victorie. It would hurt to hear or even have it implied that the same was true of them.

“And in the meantime?” she queried, glancing up at him through lowered eyes.

He swallowed, shifting closer. “We can take turns bunking at each other’s flats,” he suggested huskily.

“Hmmm, I like the sound of that,” she agreed, need seizing her in an instant.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve recently had to resist the impulse to haul you off and have my way with you again,” he announced suddenly, and it was like a dam breaking. Lily didn’t care why he hadn’t. Probably because he was being noble while she sorted out things with Scor. Or to keep some distance if things didn’t go this way for them.

All she knew right then was that she wanted him. Wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything. He was hers, and that revelation demanded a physical manifestation to cement it. 

Retrieving her wand from her pocket, Lily quickly conjured a blanket and cast a Cushioning Charm on it. As she tossed her wand aside, through with it for the time being, she gave Teddy an expectant look.

“Lily Potter, are you planning on taking advantage of me?” Teddy teased, reaching for her. “Again,” he added with an anticipatory grin.

“I just want to check that it’s as good as I remember before we start buying houses,” she said glibly, biting back a laugh at the expression on his face.

“Is that a challenge?” he asked, stalking towards her. Instinctively, Lily retreated, turning to bolt when she noted the predatory look in his star-flecked eyes.

“Only if it means you’re going to shag me now,” she called, only getting two steps before his arms came around her and she was flying through the air, gasping as she landed in a giggling heap on the padded blanket. Teddy pounced on her, caging her in. Breathlessly, she admitted, “I’ve been dying for a repeat.”

“Slowly going insane from longing? Yeah, I’m with you,” he said, fixing her with that hungry look before he crashed his lips against hers.

“Mmh,” Lily hummed, running her hands over his back, dragging his shirt up in the process. A turbulent tempest, wild as a summer storm washed over her, whispering words of encouragement, urging them on.

Teddy pulled her up, tugging her shirt over her head as he did. His eyes feasted on her chest, lingering. Then his mouth descended, tracing kisses along the edge of the lace covering her.

Lily’s head fell back, letting the pleasure he gave consume her. Soft lips brushed the heaving mounds before his teeth caught the peak of her puckered nipple through the fabric of her bra. He worried the bud, making her back arch, pushing her further into the moist heat.

Her hands found the button of his trousers as he continued feeding the fire within her. It took a second of fumbling before she’d undone his pants and freed his length, her fingers not as nimble as usual given the wonderful distraction Teddy was providing. His thickness filled her hand, and she gripped him firmly, stroking up and down. Every few passes, she’d twist the tip just enough to have him gasping where his face was buried against her breast.

Once her bra was gone and his pants had been kicked off, Teddy set about removing her own trousers, though his mouth never stopped teasing her erect nipples. He offered little flicks, the barely there caresses driving her wild.

“Teddy,” she groaned, running her nails down his back when his hand blazed a path down her belly before it slipped into her panties to rub directly against her sensitive clit. 

“No more. I want to be inside you when I come,” he gasped, stilling her hands.

“Yes,” Lily agreed, breaths coming in irregular pants as she reached to shoved her pants off as he continued touching her intimately.

Lily was already embarrassingly ready for him, having spent months longing for this very moment. His fingers slid easily into her hot channel, moving deliberately in and out. Ragged pants tore from her lips, and Lily spiraled towards the edge. 

The abyss waited, and Lily met it eagerly, falling gladly when the tension broke, melting and reforming her anew -- into a heap of bones and bliss. There wasn’t room for more. Except love. Because she truly was in love with Teddy.

Slowly, achingly so, he leaned over her and lined up his hips with hers. “Lily. My little hellcat,” he murmured, brushing her hair back from her face. 

“Yes,” she agreed, then begged, “please, Teddy. I need you. All of you.”

His breathing was as ragged as her own. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest where they pressed together, each of them greedily gulping in air. Then he was easing into her, staring at her in wonder the whole time. Lily’s walls clenched around him, marveling at the sensation of completeness that came over her once they were fully joined.

He set an easy pace, in no hurry for their time together to end. Chaos reigned, stirring her to a fever pitch. Lily’s nails and heels urged him to go faster, and her hips rose eagerly to meet his every forward press, but he continued his steady, lazy thrusts.

Lily placed open-mouthed kisses on his neck, his chest, his earlobe. Anywhere and everywhere that she could reach.

Her legs encircled his hips eagerly, pulling him as close as possible, and her hands slipped from between them and around to grip his shoulders. Drugging kisses proceeded when his lips captured her in response.

"Teddy, more. You’re torturing me here," Lily whined into his mouth, his name a command disguised as a plea that had him moving to rub the little bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs again.

Ecstasy slammed into her, sending her soaring to unknown heights as she came. Lights danced and flashed around them. Literal fireworks exploded before her vision. She clamped down around him only to feel his body shuttering helplessly as she clung to him.

She felt mindless as lingering pleasure quaked through her limbs, induced by the feel of their bodies pressing deliciously against one another’s as he slowed, easing her down from their dual climax.

“Did you plan on this when you owled me earlier?” she asked idly, running her fingers lightly through his hair and over his back.

“Honestly? No. I missed you. I promise I’m in no rush, and I have no intention of going anywhere. If you needed more time, I was more than ready to give it to you,” he said easily, rolling to hold her against his chest. She propped her chin on his shoulder so she could watch his hair and eyes slowly revert to their normal turquoise and emerald green. It was a fascinating process, and one that left her feeling giddy for the power it let her know she wielded over him. “I was just excited to be out of Harry’s and in my own place again. Plus, I wanted to share this with you.”

“I’m thrilled that you did,” she murmured, brushing a lock of hair off his forehead and shivering when his fingers traced a path down her spine.

“I might have also assumed you’d have some clever, amusing comment about my lack of furniture. Maybe a few opinions on what I should get. Didn’t think it’d be right for me to deprive you of the opportunity.”

“It’s incredible how well you know me. Feels like we’ve been together much longer than we have,” she said, dropping a light kiss on his warm, sweaty skin.

“I think our history helps,” he said frankly, and there was no arguing that. Many things, like their senses of humor hadn’t changed, and they’d always gotten on well in that regard. It was part of why she’d fancied him as a girl.

“Did you go with a smaller flat because of your decision to build a house?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah. It seemed a waste when it’s temporary,” he admitted, running his fingers absently through her long hair. It made tingles ghost down her spine in the wake of his earlier touch. “I have the money from selling Gran’s house, and quite a bit saved.”

“I have savings too. If you’re really serious about this place being ours,” Lily suggested nervously. It was rather presumptuous on her part, but judging by the smile that lit up his face, he was completely on board.

“Yeah?” he asked, though it was more of an agreement. “Hmm. I bet you’re wanting a big yard.”

“Of course. Where else will the family sit when we host brunch?” she demanded, raising a brow. The idea of inviting her family over on a regular basis made her heart soar.

“Or our kids play Quidditch,” he added quietly. It was a confession of a secret desire he’d probably been holding onto for a very long time. Harry often said she and her brothers were his greatest desire -- a family of his own after Voldemort had taken his. It was likely the same for Teddy.

And Lily had no problem imaging it. He’d make a great father, and she wanted kids herself.

“Two. I want us to have two kids,” she said, equally quiet. She felt how he stopped breathing, but the gleam in his eyes...Well, it was hungry and calculating. “What is that look about?”

“I’d like two, but I have every intention of talking you round to a third,” he finally said, yanking her down for a searing kiss.

“You can try,” she breathed when he finally let her up for air. Three sounded... exhausting. And Lily wanted plenty of time for them to be together like this. Kids had a way of interfering with that.

“We could always practice,” he suggested, urging her leg over his hip.

Lily sat up, eagerly reaching for his rapidly hardening length. She could definitely go again. He was an addiction she fully intended to glut herself on. As she guided him to her entrance and sank down onto his stiff cock, Lily groaned, appreciating the fullness as he filled her.

“You’re in charge, Hellcat,” he taunted, grinning up at her.

Lily rode him, rocking her hips to meet his, their hands clasped together. It wasn’t long before she shuttered her release, collapsing against his chest and humming as he rolled them. Teddy drove into her, quick jerks that had him calling out her name as he spilled inside her.

Later, just as she was dozing in his arms, Teddy hesitantly asked, “Would it bother you if I wanted to keep this just between us for a little while longer?”

“No. Not at all,” Lily agreed easily, having planned to ask much the same of him in the morning when she was more alert, in case he argued.

“You’re not going to ask why?” he questioned, lightly running the tips of his fingers over her naked hip. She shivered in response.

“I don’t need to,” she murmured.

“It’s not because I want to keep you a secret or think that’s exciting,” he promised, seeming to want to reassure her or head off some imagined slight he feared she’d take offense at.

“It’s because of Victorie,” Lily whispered, more awake as it became apparent they were going to have this serious talk now.

“Yes,” he sighed wearily.

“Because everyone felt the need to weigh in and tell you what to do, when they should have just been happy for you,” she explained for him, knowing how difficult it must still be for him to talk about. “And… and because she was my cousin,” she added frankly, knowing it’d be better to acknowledge the point than dance around it. A lot of people would probably have something to say when they learned he was with another Weasley -- they certainly had when Scor went from her to Rose.

“I love you,” he vowed, the words torn from him, raw and achingly honest.

“We can introduce the idea slowly,” Lily suggested, weaving her fingers into his hair and gently scratching his scalp as she’d learned earlier that he seemed to enjoy immensely.

“Your brothers first,” he agreed. “And I want to be the one to tell Bill,” he said, sighing again. That’d probably be a difficult discussion for him, but she understood his desire to let the man know privately. They’d been very close for a time.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m fairly certain Jamie learned his lesson after the last time,” Lily teased, trying to lighten the moment.

“Augh, don’t remind me!” he groaned, throwing an arm across his face.

Lily laughed, remembering how her eldest brother had run about telling the entire family that Teddy and Victorie were kissing on the Hogwarts Express. It had forced Teddy to announce that he and Victorie had decided to start dating that very week.

“I didn’t even know if there was anything to tell yet, and suddenly I had five Weasley men breathing down my neck,” he grumbled, but it lacked any real heat.

“Poor baby, at least with me you only have to really worry about my dad,” Lily said, full of mock sympathy.

“Funny. Bet you think that’s a laugh,” he said, tickling her sides.

Lily giggled, gasping as she insisted, “I’m a riot, and you know it!”

“We’ll tell the great Harry Potter together. Deal?”

“Deal,” she agreed easily, still laughing though he’d ceased his torment. 

“You didn’t say earlier,” Teddy began, taking a deep breath before continuing, “what inspired your sudden revelation that you’re in love with me.”

“This time, you mean?” she asked drolly.

“This time?”

“I thought you wanted to hear about why I declared myself now, not how I fancied myself in love with you when I was eight,” she said puckishly.

“No, you didn’t,” Teddy denied immediately.

“I did rather,” she admitted blandly, smugly watching as amazement crossed his features. “Whole family knew about it.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know,” Teddy mused. “Never even suspected a thing.”

“Oh, please. I was a child and you’d just graduated,” she said, dismissing the whole incident.

He let it go with a smile, prompting, “Well then, back to tonight.”

“Scor came to see me. We said our goodbyes. Made peace with everything,” Lily said, wondering how he’d react to the news. Scor would have gone ballistic if she’d told him an ex visited her. He’d always been so jealous when other blokes showed a bit too much interest in her.

Teddy studied her a moment, utterly relaxed. Finally, he said, “I’m glad you had the opportunity to do so.”

“It makes moving forward so much easier,” she agreed, grateful that he was so understanding and open with her.

“I have moved on too,” he said, answering her unspoken question about Victorie, “and I can’t wait for all the adventures we’re going to have together.”

“I’m going with Rose to look at dresses in the morning, but maybe we can visit Holyhead in the afternoon,” Lily suggested, eager to get started on that future now that it was within reach.

“Look at a few properties then have dinner in town?” he said, seeming on board with her plan as he nodded.

Lily kissed him, unable to help herself. They were really doing this!


	7. 7: Perfect

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This chapter is told from Teddy’s perspective. 

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 7: Perfect

“Lily, don’t!” Teddy sighed, utterly exasperated as he watched her finish shedding her robes. He swallowed when he saw she’d forgone a bra that day, and was currently standing outside in nothing but a pair of skimpy, lace knickers.

She was an absolute vision. Some sort of Pagan goddess to be certain. Copper waves curled about her narrow waist, while sunrays kissed her freckled ivory skin. Her hazel eyes sparkled, shining in victorious delight. 

As so often happened, Teddy’s eyes drifted to the shell pink nipples on display. They were the exact same shade of pale pink as her lips. Countless dinners and brunches over the last few months had seen him helplessly reacting to the sight of her mouth. Always, it reminded him of the perfect mounds he alone was lucky enough to worship.

Teddy glanced about. Their agent had only just left, but there was always the possibility that he might come back. Hence his current reservations.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him, then boldly took off running, leaping off the edge of the short cliff into the blue-grey ocean below.

He listened, amused despite himself, as her laughter was followed by a splash. Walking to the edge, he peered down, looking to see where she’d gone.

“Come in! Unless you’re too chicken to celebrate,” she taunted, pressing all the right buttons as she was so wont to do. He could never resist one of her challenges.

They’d just had their offer accepted for a parcel of land on the coast in Holyhead. They’d found the spot the day after they made plans to go, but had decided to wait two months before making an offer. They’d determined that if they both still loved the spot and it was still available in eight weeks, they’d take it as a sign. It had been.

“The water’s freezing, isn’t it?” Teddy called, already unfastening his robes despite his certainty in the fact.

“Come see for yourself,” she said enticingly, treading water as she grinned mischievously up at him. Minx.

When he hesitated, she laid on her back, floating and giving a glorious showing of her ample chest. It was tempting enough to make him do anything she asked. Just as she’d likely know it would be.

Shaking his head, Teddy finished shedding his robes and jumped in after the saucy redhead.

It was every bit as frigid as he’d guessed the late September water would be, though he could honestly say he’d swam in colder water before on dares from friends. But that didn’t make it any less shocking and unpleasant now.

“Merlin’s saggy balls, Hellcat! Are you trying to make it shrivel up and fall off?” Teddy gasped.

Laughing, Lily swam up and began caressing him beneath the surface of the water. Two months of regular intimacy made her bold with him, not that she hadn’t been from the start, but she’d slowly developed a new confidence that was dangerously sexy and appealing. These days he didn’t even have to see her to get hard, all Teddy had to do was think about their last encounter and he wanted her all over again. 

“Don’t worry, I know how to make it better,” Lily said soothingly, a wicked smile lighting her face.

Her hand continued tracing every rigid and vein of his cock, her thumb brushing over the crown with each tug. “You sure do,” he grunted as she floated, bobbing up and down as she treaded water.

Teddy hauled her closer. Immediately, her arms and legs wrapped around him, taking an unconscious cue. When he realized her knickers had somehow vanished, he let her tugging hand guide him to her entrance a moment before he slid home.

That first instant when he felt her body squeezing him tightly, her slick channel gripping him snugly, was bliss. That sensation always brought to mind a feeling of completeness. Of being whole. A feeling that had been seriously lacking from his life for years. Possibly forever.

He’d never shared as much of himself, opened up, and relied on anyone the way he did with Lily. There were no feelings of self-consciousness. No fear of rejection. He showed her all of himself, and she eagerly accepted him completely, just as he was. 

More than that, though, they wanted the same things out of life. He didn’t have to give up the things he loved and desired to fit in her world or make things work. They shared similar values. They teased and joked easily. They were compatible in every way.

Lily held onto him, rocking herself along his cock while he tread water, aiming them towards the beach. He lost sight of the shore when she kissed him, and he lost himself in her. The rest of the world was forgotten. There was only his hellcat and the pleasure she gave.

The scent of strawberries and coconut mingled with the sharp tang of the ocean, and he felt the sharp caress of salty, sea air coming off the water. Her lips tasted of the berry tart she’d grabbed for breakfast at the little shop in town on their way here. He’d have to remember to get her another before he left to surprise her with after her shift at St. Mungo’s.

The stray thought was there and gone as his feet found solid ground. With his feet planted in the shallow, rocky sand, his arms were free to wrap around the vixen grinding herself against his pelvis. The little whimpers and moans she was making were driving him wild.

He fisted a hand in her tangled locks of tangible fire, burning crimson surrounding them, and broke the kiss, needing to see her eyes. The way he could make the pupils blow with lust, swallowing the hazel irises. The blues and greens and browns of her eyes were an intricate patchwork quilt. A mesmerizing jigsaw puzzle. 

Lily Potter was stunning. Truly stunning in a way that hardly seemed possible. He’d told her that once, and she’d rolled her eyes, saying, “You’re biased because I’m the one in your bed and you love me.” While that certainly might be part of it, he knew she truly was a beauty -- inside and out.

“Hellcat, I’m close,” he growled, using his free hand to pinch the pebbled tip of her nipple where it bobbed at the surface.

“I know… your hair,” she panted, grinning impishly.

He’d once been mortified by the fact that he lost control of his abilities in such a way, and hated he had no one to ask if it was normal. But Lily’s ongoing enjoyment of the fact made him resent it less. She seemed to take pride in being able to make him lose control at least a few times everyday. And honestly, he enjoyed doing the same to her, and wouldn’t mind causing her to display a similarly bright reaction. 

Guess he’d have to settle for her becoming blushes. She always flushed right down to the perfect tips of her breasted when she came. It was a glorious sight, and one he hoped to see everyday for the rest of his life.

It wasn’t long before her inner walls clamped down around him, spasming and fluttering enticingly. That was all it took for him to lose control and have him spilling inside her warm, wet, heat.

“Promise we’ll do this at least once a year,” Lily demanded breathlessly, tenderly brushing the hair off his forehead as she watched him.

“Anytime, anywhere you want,” he vowed, willing to give her anything. Maybe because she never asked for anything from him. Lily always made a point to find out what he wanted then tried to present a compromise when he didn’t want the same.

Their flats were a perfect example. Teddy needed silence when he was working on a story, but Lily loved listening to music. So she’d taken the time to cast a number of Silencing Charms around her guest bedroom and had converted it into an office for him to work in, undisturbed. He’d insisted it was unnecessary, and that he could just return to his flat when he needed peace and quiet, but she’d pointed out that it was important they do things like this for each other now since they’d soon be living together permanently.

“I’ll remember you said that,” she quipped, kissing him lightly before releasing her stranglehold on his person. She’d still been a little koala clinging to him. “But I need to get going. I work nights this week.”

Teddy watched her slowly trudging through the shallow surf, kicking up water playfully as she went. She was so full of life, so vibrant and passionate. Compassionate too. She was covering for a witch out on maternity leave this week, and was covering several of the other woman’s night shifts even though it meant she’d have to work doubles. She’d done the same for the last two weeks, and was no doubt exhausted. And still she was up for properly celebrating today instead of sneaking in a thirty minute power nap before work.

“Were you able to switch on Friday?” he asked following behind her, and staring unabashedly at her swaying bum as they made their way up the side of the grass covered hill to their discarded robes.

They were planning on telling Harry and Ginny that they were together this Friday, then let the rest of the family know at brunch on Sunday.

“Yes. We’ll tell them that we’re together then let them know we bought a house,” she said determinedly. She’d been getting more and more nervous over the last week -- ever since they’d decided that it was time. Particularly in light of them moving forward with the plans for the house.

He knew she wasn’t worried about them not approving. No. It was entirely because they’d waited so long to tell them.

They hadn’t really meant to put it off for so long. At first, they’d been so wrapped up in one another that they’d lost track of it. But then, Lily had had to cancel on the last three dinners where they’d planned to share the news because of her hectic work schedule.

“What if we just tell them about us, and save the news about the house until they break ground on it in a few weeks?” Teddy suggested, hoping that would relieve a bit of the pressure on her. And it was only delaying the less important news for a little while. All he really cared about was admitting they were together. It felt like the right time had come, and he wanted everyone to be happy for them, and see how happy they were together. “Best not overload them.”

“Did you hear when he said they were starting?” Lily asked excitedly, spinning to face him. His eyes jerked up just in time to catch her knowing smirk.

He winked before replying, “Sure did. Halloween.”

“Teddy!” she huffed, shoving his shoulder.

“What? Oh, I see,” he said exaggeratedly, pretending to ponder it a moment, “you’re referring to the fact that they’re starting the house on your birthday.”

“Best present ever!” she exclaimed, sidling up to him and going on her toes to kiss him.

He could still remember the phase she’d gone through years earlier, after her… maybe sixth birthday, where all she’d wanted was the whole family to participate in a special game of Quidditch -- one where she made up the rules, and they changed every few minutes to suit her whims. They’d played it again over the Christmas Hols when he’d come home from Hogwarts. 

Funny how he’d not thought of that in years, but now that he was, he could picture her teaching their kids her version of the game and insisting they all play it on holidays too. It was a tempting vision to be sure.

“Couldn’t agree more,” he murmured, dropping another kiss on her lush lips. “Though apparently, now I’m going to have to try extra hard in the future,” he mused, anticipating the challenge. Life with Lily would never be dull.

“All I need is you to be wonderfully, ecstatically, happy,” she said sincerely.

“Same,” he agreed, kissing her a final time before reluctantly releasing her and walking the last few feet to their pile of robes.

“Oh, before I forget, I heard back from Jamie. He’ll be at dinner too,” Lily announced happily. Her relief was clear to see now that she knew she’d have her older brother’s support. 

Teddy cast a Drying Charm over first Lily, then himself as he asked, “Al’s still coming too?”

“Yes. And they’re bringing Cara and Aiyana, so it’ll be a nice little affair,” Lily mused, nodding. 

So far her brothers and Bill were the only ones they’d told. Al had already figured it would happen based on their adventure at the bar, so it’d gone over pretty well with him. He even seemed genuinely happy about it. Possibly relieved too, after Lily’s breakup with Scorpius. Jamie, on the other hand, had been stunned speechless. When he finally found his voice, it was to ask if Lily was the only reason he’d come back.

Teddy hadn’t realized how much Jamie had taken his absence to heart until that moment. Or how selfish he’d been thinking only of himself and what he needed when he’d gone. He’d invited Jamie to come visit him over the years, and his pseudo brother had at least once a year, though usually twice, but it wasn’t until then that Teddy really got how much Jamie had missed him. They’d always been so close, getting on far better than Jamie and Al ever had. Not that those two didn’t, they were just so different, that friendship didn’t come naturally to them. But they’d always have each other’s backs if needed.

It had taken a very frank and private discussion between Teddy and Jamie about why he’d left in the first place, and what Lily meant to him now, before Jamie was on board with them. He also knew Jamie had taken Lily aside afterwards and demanded to know that Teddy was treating her right. 

Privately, Teddy thought the hardest part for Jamie was understanding how he could see Teddy as a brother, while Lily didn’t. Probably, it was the age difference and his time away that gave them this opportunity to not have that be a factor. Lily had never, not even when he’d been at Hogwarts, felt like a sister. She’d been too young, and he’d been too preoccupied with Harry or Jamie during his visits to Grimmauld Place.

Luckily for him now.

The only other person they’d told was Bill. That had been a few days earlier because they’d needed his help to arrange the money transfer from their vaults for the land and to get a loan initiated for the house they were building.

It had actually gone over pretty well. Better than he’d hoped even.

_“You got a minute?” Teddy asked from the doorway to Bill’s office at Gringotts._

_“For you? Always,” Bill said easily, waving him in and setting the parchment he’d been reading aside._

_“It’s about a couple of things actually,” Teddy began, fidgeting in his seat. Bill gave him a look urging him to continue, so Teddy did. “First, I’m buying a house and could use your help with the paperwork.”_

_“Congratulations! That’s major. I’m glad you’ve decided to stick around,” Bill said, grinning in a way that made his scars stretch noticeably._

_The reminder of Greyback set Teddy’s teeth on edge. The man had taken so much from him, and was still walking free. Teddy hated him. Truly hated him._

_It took effort to force the negative emotions away. Things were good in his life now, and he needed to focus on moving forward. On building the life he’d never dared dream he could have._

_Teddy watched Bill search about, gathering the necessary papers, and reached out when he passed them over. Taking a deep breath, Teddy continued, “There’s more. The house? I’m buying it with…” he paused to swallow thickly, then finished, “with Lily -- for us.”_

_Bill was quiet for a long time, contemplating the new information._

_“I know how much Vickie meant to you, and that you’d have always tried to make her happy, but the truth is...she didn’t know what she wanted before she died. She was so very like her Aunt Gabby,” Bill said solemnly, old pain lancing his words._

_Teddy could see that. Gabby was flighty. Always trying something new. Exciting, beautiful, fun. A sudden summer squall. But ultimately a little selfish and thoughtless. Easily bored. Victorie had been the same. Capricious and spoiled. Her Veela nature had been even more pronounced that it had been in her mother, despite how diluted the blood was._

_All of those traits had added up into a girl that was irresistible. Every bloke desired her. The whole of Hogwarts. And she’d wanted him. Teddy Lupin._

_“Don’t get me wrong, I wanted you as a son-in-law. You’re wonderful. You would have been a great influence on Vickie, or at least I’d hoped you’d be. I guess I just wished you’d fallen for Dom instead,” Bill said sadly._

_“And Lily?” he asked, unable to say more as he asked for the man’s blessing to move on._

_“I can’t imagine anyone better for my favorite niece,” Bill said, voice filled with heart-warming sincerity despite the pain lingering in his eyes. “But don’t tell the others she is,” he added ruefully._

_Lily was everyone’s favorite, though she seemed oblivious to the fact._

_“I love her,” Teddy admitted bashfully. Every day the knowledge felt like a revelation._

_“The pair of you are good together. Can’t believe I didn’t spot it sooner,” Bill said, shaking his head. “It’s so obvious now that you’ve said.”_

_Teddy smiled and set about filling out the paperwork. When he’d finished, he passed them over asking, “How soon?”_

_“Should be ready in a few days. I’ll rush it through for you,” Bill promised, standing and moving to clap him on the shoulder._

_“Thanks -- for everything,” Teddy said meaningfully._

“Are you nervous?” Lily asked, bringing him out of his thoughts and reminding him that they would be telling Harry in a few days.

Lily had finished doing up the fastenings on her robes, but Teddy paused near the top of his to raise a brow at her and ask, “Should I be?”

“No,” she grinned, raking her eyes over him in a way that made him wish they had more time together this afternoon. He’d gotten his work done earlier. “I love you,” she said simply.

“I love you too. Are you really going to work without knickers under your robes?” he asked suddenly, realizing hers were somewhere out to sea and that he’d not seen her put a newly conjured pair on.

“Guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if I found spare ones or not,” Lily teased provocatively.

“Agh, that’s just plain cruel,” Teddy groaned, reaching for her, but she darted out of reach.

“You love it, don’t lie,” she baited, winking at him.

“You’re a tease, Hellcat! Now go on, get out of here. I’m going to stick around for a while,” Teddy grumbled, knowing he’d be hard for at least an hour after that.

Her laughter echoed across the clearing after she Disapparated. A smile flirted about his lips as he took in the spot where their house would be standing by the end of spring. 

They’d decided everything together, dreaming up their perfect house. A cobblestone chimney. Two stories. White shutters. Huge porch. Four bedrooms -- for their three kids, though Lily still insisted one would only be a guest room. Room for a Quidditch pitch out back. A giant stone bathtub in the master bedroom big enough for two. A workspace for him so he could edit and print the Quibbler from home.

It was completely, and utterly perfect. 

Perfect.


	8. 8: The Big Bad Wolf

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This chapter is told from Teddy’s perspective. 

Please don’t get upset over Victorie’s portrayal here. These are just a couple brief, yet ultimately pivotal moments of her life -- not a full picture of who she is/was. She’s only barely eighteen and has lived her whole life safe, sheltered, spoiled, loved, and famous. Those factors have meant that she’s not been forced to grow up as fast as Harry’s generation did, and she’s a typical, romantic teenage girl. A bit rash, unused to the necessity of caution, and ready to go out on her own -- away from a place where everyone has expectations for her based on her family.

PS I’m not JK Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 8: The Big Bad Wolf

The _Quibbler_ was due to be owled out that weekend, and Teddy was double checking the last minute revisions before it went to press that Thursday. When the owl came, he tossed the missive on a stack of unopened mail piling up and finished getting the magazine ready to go. It had become a familiar process over the years. Particularly the last three as Luna slowly transitioned him from writer to editor. Honestly, he preferred this job, as she’d known he would.

It was another six hours before he was able to sit down and sort through the work that had piled up for the next issue while he readied the latest. The machine kept chugging along, periodically releasing little groans and puffs of smoke as it clanged and sputtered out paper after paper. He’d take them to the post office in Hogsmeade first thing the next morning to get them sent out.

When he picked up the letter, a sense of foreboding came over him. Echoes whispered from long buried graves. A sudden chill that was out of place in the toasty room.

Carefully, he unrolled the parchment to stare at the scribbled lines of deep, brownish-burgundy. Crusted bits flaked off, dropping onto his desk like rust shavings.

_Cub,_

_I thought you’d learned your lesson when I ate your grandmother and clawed up your last bitch. You don’t get to be happy. You don’t get to be safe. If I’m not, you’re not. Your family destroyed my life, and have hunted me for years. Now it’s my turn again -- better look out for Little Red before I sink my teeth into her succulent body -- if you can._

_Looking forward to seeing you again and tasting her..._

_Happy Hunting,  
The Big Bad Wolf_

_PS Better get home fast, you wouldn’t want to be too late again, would you?_

The letter fell from Teddy’s boneless fingers. Memories of the past assailed him.

_“I don’t want to go back to Shell Cottage after school. You know they’ll want me to get a job right away, and we’ll never have any time together. Mum’s even talking about putting in a word for me at Gringotts! Can you imagine?” Victorie groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. Her shining, silver hair swayed alluringly in the light breeze._

_They were walking hand-in-hand through Hogsmeade during her winter visit to the town. They’d seen each other several times over Christmas Hols, but never alone. Now they had a chance at some privacy -- finally -- but Vickie was too worked up just then to take advantage of it._

_“Not really. You’d hate being stuck in an office surrounded by ornery goblins all day,” Teddy said knowingly. It was actually rather amusing to picture, the image so out-of-character for her._

_Now Madam Malkin’s, surrounded by fashion and robes, and gossiping with customers, that was a different story. Given her longtime obsession with clothes, he’d figured that was what she planned to pursue, but apparently not._

_They’d never really discussed it before now. The topic of the future had seemed forever away when they were facing a year apart while she finished her schooling. But now that they were on the other side of Christmas, it seemed a lot closer, and significantly more pressing to get sorted._

_“Exactly my point! You get me, so why don’t they?” she continued, not detecting his underlying amusement given how wrapped up she was in her ranting._

_“They just want to help you out,” he tried, hoping to placate her a bit. She was easily riled. Always had been. Probably had a bit to do with why they’d never been close growing up. Teddy rarely got riled about anything, and Vickie had always thought him boring because of it._

_“They want me to be as boring as they’ve become,” she grumbled unhappily._

_Teddy couldn’t admit that he was jealous that she had parents willing to pull strings and help her. Not that Harry didn’t try to do the same, but it was different somehow. And of course he had Ginny to thank for getting him on at the_ Prophet _after he’d confessed to wanting to write, but Obituaries and the occasional fluff piece weren’t what he’d had in mind. Maybe he could move up eventually. She seemed to think he was talented enough to, but it would take time._

_“I want to see the world. Maybe try my hand at curse breaking the way my dad did,” Vickie said suddenly, a feverish light coming over her face. The new ambition startled him. It was the first she’d ever mentioned desiring such a dangerous and occasionally brutal aspiration._

_“Have you talked to Bill about this?” he asked tentatively._

_“No. You know what he’d say -- you’d hate the job, or that’s not the right career for you,” Vickie mimicked, adopting an amusing patronizing air as she did._

_“He might have a point. He does know you, and he was a curse-breaker for years,” Teddy said, reluctantly smiling over her impression. She was always so incredibly funny. Making others laugh came as naturally to her as altering his nose did to him._

_“Pfft,” she huffed dismissively, waving off his concerns. “They’re so boring. I want to have fun, and they’ve forgotten what that even is. I want to get out of here. To do something daring and adventurous. It’ll be brilliant!”_

_“But then you’d always be out of town, and we’d not see each other anyways,” Teddy said, voicing the new problem he’d just detected._

_“You could come with me. Oh! A foreign correspondent -- you’d be smashing at that!” she insisted, spinning on the spot and laughing gayily, with her long curtain of glossy hair fanning out behind her._

_“I don’t know, Vickie. I don’t really want to be away from everyone,” Teddy admitted. The Potters and Weasleys were his family too and he loved getting to see them regularly._

_“Please, Teddy, for me,” Victorie begged, moving to stand directly before him and casting her big blue eyes up at him pleadingly._

_He felt it. That desire to do anything for her, to demonstrate how he could be the one to give her what she wanted -- thoroughly impress her with his dedication to her. It was subtle, but very real, and he didn’t want to disappoint her._

_“This will make you happy?” he asked quietly._

_“So much,” she gasped, seeming amazed that he was agreeing, “you don’t even know. All I want is to be with you forever.”_

_Her words struck a chord of longing in him. That’s what he wanted too. Someone that was his. A family of his own. He just couldn’t believe his luck that Victorie Weasley wanted him like that as well. He’d never have thought he had a chance with her, but now here they were. And he could make her dreams come true, fulfilling a few of his own in the process._

_“I’ll ask Gin if she can put in a word for me. Get me transferred if you get on somewhere,” he capitulated._

_“Merlin, Teddy, I love you!” she squealed, clapping delightedly and she bounced on the balls of her feet._

Her parents hadn’t been happy when she’d sent in her applications. Her owls after that had been an endless stream of complaints about how they didn’t know her and how wrong they were about her not liking the type of work that would be expected of her. Teddy couldn’t really say he disagreed with them either though, so he’d settled for saying nothing at all. 

Victorie was always a hundred percent put together. Being a curse-breaker would involve getting dirty and camping -- two things Victorie abhorred. But she’d never admit it until she tried it for herself. That was how she’d always been.

When she’d been accepted, she’d written to tell him she had to leave at the end of the summer, and only spouses could go with. She’d not said anymore, but the silent request was there all the same, and he hadn’t minded in the least. 

It had seemed so romantic at the time, getting married because they couldn’t bear to be parted again when she was finally out of Hogwarts. He’d gotten his mother’s ring from Gran, though she’d shaken her head and told him he was as impulsive and doggedly persistent as his mother.

He’d proposed on Platform nine and three quarters, in full view of her entire family. She’d cried and lept on him, showering him with kisses. Maybe it had been insane, but she just had this way about her, much like her mum did, and he’d never been able to deny her anything. From that moment the summer before when she’d asked him to pluck an apple she couldn’t reach at a Sunday brunch the day before her seventh year, he’d been a goner for her. Happily wrapped around her little finger.

It was so easy to look back now and see how right everyone had been about them. They were the closest in age, but they’d never spent much time together growing up even when they were in the same place. They just didn’t have anything in common to allow a friendship to blossom between them. 

Their entire relationship consisted of an afternoon at the Burrow before her seventh year, three Hogsmeade visits, two weeks at Christmas with all of her family about, then two months over the summer after she’d graduated when they’d been fighting and still constantly surrounded by her family. Oh, and letters.

Those last weeks together, that fateful summer, they’d spent nearly every minute planning their wedding, which was to take place the week before she reported for her new job in Egypt. 

Then it had all gone to hell.

_His gran was late meeting him for dinner. She was trying to be supportive, Teddy knew, but she didn’t want to lose him too. Teddy was just starting to think she’d forgotten or was skipping dinner as a way of protesting his upcoming departure when Harry arrived._

_His godfather walked right up and hugged him, clinging to him the way Teddy used to when he woke from nightmares as a child wanting his parents._

_“Harry? What’s happened?” Teddy gasped, startled by the display. Harry ordinarily had trouble being demonstrative in public, and there was definitely a crowd of onlookers watching them right then._

_“It’s Andie. Your gran, she --” Harry said raspily, breaking off suddenly._

_“What? Where is she?” Teddy demanded, panic gripping him._

_He didn’t need to hear the words. Harry’s reaction alone was enough, but Harry said it anyways, knowing it would help Teddy process it. “I’m so sorry, Teddy. She’s gone.”_

_“No. No, I…” he denied, shaking his head and fisting Harry’s robes to keep himself upright._

_He stared at Harry, willing him to explain how this happened. His godfather read the question on his face. Quietly, he said, “There was an attack --”_

_“Who?” Teddy demanded, not letting Harry finish._

_“Greyback. He left a note,” Harry explained._

_“Where is it?” Harry shook his head, and Teddy assumed it was evidence. Either that or it was bad enough that Harry wished to spare him. “What did it say?”_

_“He threatened Victorie,” Harry admitted, watching Teddy closely._

_“Vickie?” Teddy gasped, not really processing the revelation._

_“Don’t worry. She’s with Bill and Ron and several other Aurors,” Harry promised, gripping Teddy’s shoulders._

_“I need to see her,” Teddy whispered, silently pleading with Harry to take him to his fiancee. He couldn’t believe she was all right until he saw it for himself._

_“Come on,” Harry said softly, guiding him outside to the nearest Apparation spot._

The rest of that night was a blur. He vaguely recalled Victorie holding him while he cried over the loss of his last living relative -- at least the last close one. He was on speaking terms with Draco and Scorpius, but they’d never been close. Especially not after he’d left.

It was two days later before he had any more clear memories, and then it was of a fight he’d had with Victorie.

_“Vickie, where are you going?” Teddy asked, confused. She was quietly headed for the door, slipping out before the sun had even fully risen._

_He’d been staying on Bill and Fleur’s sofa most of the summer. She had to move past him to reach the door. It was the only reason he even knew she was leaving. He must have fallen asleep at some point the night before, because there was a blanket draped over him now._

_“Flower shop. I’ve an appointment first thing this morning that I didn’t want to cancel,” she said. Her eyes were swollen and lined in red from crying with him the night before._

_“You can’t be serious. Greyback threatened you,” Teddy gasped, staring at her incredulously._

_“Yes, well, I’ve a wedding and now a funeral to plan, and I won’t let him ruin anything else for me,” she said, eyes flashing with determination._

_“That doesn’t matter!” Teddy insisted, shocked that she’d intended to do something so reckless and needless. Particularly the fact that if he hadn’t woken, Teddy wouldn’t even have known where she’d gone!_

_“Of course it does,” Vickie snapped, pursing her lips. “I won’t let the twisted man that hurt my father and killed your gran keep me from living my life. I won’t stay hold up here forever,” she said flatly, anger radiating from every line of her body._

_“No one is trying to do that, but it’s not safe for you to go out right now,” Teddy growled, angry himself. “Especially not alone.”_

_What was she thinking? Why take the risk for some stupid, pointless flowers? He understood the desire not to be cowed, especially for her. Vickie always seemed to desperately crave freedom. But these were unusual circumstances. It was immature of her not to acknowledge them._

_“Give Harry a chance to find Greyback before you get back to business as usual,” he requested, keeping his voice carefully controlled so as not to make her think he was attempting to manage or control her. That was the fastest way to get her to do the opposite of what he wanted._

_“Greyback has been on the loose for over nineteen years. He’s had more than enough time to come after me if he really wanted to,” she sniffed, rolling her eyes as though he were the one sounding irrational and overly paranoid._

_“That was before he threatened you specifically,” Teddy declared hotly, his temper cracking, near to breaking in the face of her ridiculous stubborn streak._

_Her eyes flashed, and he knew at once he’d misstepped. “The flower shop is a public place, I’ll be perfectly fine.”_

_He had a meeting with his Gran’s lawyer and was expected at the Ministry in an hour, but still he tried, “Will you wait until this afternoon so I can go with you?” He scanned the floor for his shoes. He could always reschedule his meeting if she refused. It was more important to him that she be safe._

_“No. I won’t rearrange my life because of him,” Vickie snapped, her blue eyes crackling and sparking as she grabbed the door handle just as signs of stirring floated through the house. Teddy suddenly realized that was why she was leaving so early. To avoid her family insisting she be accompanied by multiple Aurors if she was set on going out._

_“At least take Harry with you. Or your dad. Or any of your uncles,” Teddy begged, slipping the first shoe on, and silently begging her to say she’d be fine with him going at the very least. The flowers were sort of for him anyways, not that he really cared or had had any say so far in picking them._

_She’d not let him help with any of the wedding preparations, always insisting she knew exactly what she wanted her big day to look like, and he’d just be in the way if he tried to help. So he’d let her have her way. On everything. Ron suggested he get used to it, because it was the same in his household. Teddy thought that might have more to do with how Ron spoke without thinking more often than not, and had a tendency to be lazy. That didn’t mean it wasn’t sound advice for him to follow though. Vickie was a right bear when she didn’t get her way._

_“I don’t need a babysitter!” she yelled, storming out of the house in a swirl of silvery hair._

_Teddy jumped up, prepared to go after her, even though he was only wearing one shoe when Dom said, “Don’t. You’ve got to let her go.”_

_“The hell I do -- she’s in danger,” Teddy declared fiercely._

_“You’ll lose her if you treat her like an invalid,” Dom warned, though she too looked worried._

_At least she’d be alive._

_“I’ll go after her,” Fleur offered, brushing her hand over Dom’s shoulder affectionately and nodding at Teddy before she followed after her wayward, headstrong daughter._

Everyday had been more of the same. Victorie being stubborn and refusing to listen to anyone. Sneaking out twice more. And Teddy arguing with her nonstop. About everything too. From the wedding to their plans for Egypt to her reckless insistence on not taking the threat of Greyback serious enough.

It had been miserable. So miserable, that he’d gotten fed up and decided to return to his gran’s house after Victorie had been out all day doing any number of things that someone else could have seen to, or that could have waited until after Greyback was captured.

He’d just wanted a few days apart where they could calm down and clear their heads.

Teddy had barely made it two feet inside the door before the scent of rust hit him. Then he saw the blood. Long, arching sprays were everywhere. On every surface -- even the ceiling.

When he fell beside her mangled body, still warm, he’d completely lost it. Greyback had completely savaged her. Torn Victorie into literal pieces until she was nearly unrecognizable.

A couple months passed, and when Greyback continued to evade capture, Teddy decided to take Luna up on the offer to work with her in South America. She’d written saying she could do with some help now that she was pregnant, and it’d be a chance for him to get away, see the world, start over fresh. 

Teddy had felt he owed it to Victorie to see her dreams through now that she could no longer do it for herself.

But that had been years ago. There’d been not a single sign or sighting of Greyback since that day. Harry had looked. Always he had Aurors on the lookout. But there’d been nothing.

Until now.

Little Red. Lily. Greyback was going after Lily.

Here Teddy was, eleven years later, and he was right back where he started -- with his very heart being threatened by the man that killed his father, Gran, and Victorie. He couldn’t survive it happening again. He couldn’t lose Lily.

_PS Better get home fast, you wouldn’t want to be too late again, would you?_

Those words hit him like a sledgehammer. How long ago had the letter arrived before he’d read it? Was she even now lying dead in her flat? Or his? Had she too been brutalized because of him?


	9. 9: Surprise

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 9: Surprise

Roxy, Dom, Rose and Lily were at the Three Broomsticks. Dom and Roxy had taken the afternoon off, and Lily wasn’t set to head to work for another hour. Thankfully. Rose had come home for her mum’s birthday, and had gotten to stay and work at the Ministry for an extra two weeks as a liaison, more like secretarial assistant, since the Ambassador was in town too. 

Mostly, however, it was simply a convenient excuse to get some wedding planning done. Which is what they’d spent most of the day doing. Or at least trying to. 

Rose couldn’t make up her mind about anything. Not her dress. Not the bridesmaid dresses. Not the colors. Not even where she wanted to have the wedding. Roxy was so fed up with the lack of progress, that she had dragged all the girls out for a drink and begun grilling Rosie on what she did know for sure about twenty minutes earlier.

So far, they’d not made much progress.

“I think we’ve finally decided on August. Or maybe next September,” Rose sighed. The disappointment she was steadily trying to hide could be seen a mile away. She’d never been known for having much of a poker face.

“That’s insane,” Lily blurted, the words slipping out unbidden, though she didn’t regret them. _Someone_ needed to say it.

“Yes, I know it might be tight --”

“No, I meant, you want a _spring_ wedding. Not fall. I remember you always saying you wanted to someday get married in the spring when everything is coming to life all around you -- symbolism, or something like that,” Lily said pointedly, giving Rose an expectant look that demanded she explain herself.

“New beginnings,” Roxy supplied, having heard it enough times herself. And yes, now that she’d said it, Lily realized that was the phrase Rose had so often used.

“You remember that?” Rose gasped, clearly startled, though Lily didn’t know why. They weren’t like her dad. Unlike Uncle Ron, they listened when people talked to them. 

Plus, they’d always been rather close given their parents’ lasting friendship. It was why no one had been surprised Rose asked Lily to be her Maid of Honor -- despite the rather obvious conflict of interest.

“‘Course I do,” Lily said dryly.

“So do I,” Dom inserted loudly, backing Lily up even if she didn’t know quite where Lily was headed with her protests.

“Well, there certainly isn’t time to plan it, and I don’t really care for the idea of waiting more than a year,” Rose said briskly, pressing her lips into a thin line to stem the sadness and regret threatening to overshadow her face and reveal her true feelings on the subject.

Lily could guess that she was just thrilled to be marrying the man of her dreams. So much so, the rest didn’t matter. They were just details, and she could bring herself to sacrifice them if it meant getting to be with Scor forever.

“What do you mean there’s not time?” Roxy demanded, tossing her slinky-like dark curls over her shoulder. If ever there was a Weasley determined to prove anyone that dared suggest something was impossible wrong, it was Roxy. She had her father’s spirit and her mum’s ferocity.

“March is only six months away!” Rose said, huffing and rolling her eyes in exasperation before busying herself by taking a drink of her gillywater.

“You have a giant family, Rosie. Use us,” Lily recommended, reaching for her cousin’s hand. Squeezing it as a demonstration of her sincerity.

“Yeah, we could each take a couple tasks. We’d have it sorted in no time,” Dom agreed, shrugging nonchalantly.

“You’d do that for me?” Rose asked, completely overwhelmed by their generosity and willingness to make her dreams come true.

“In a heartbeat,” Lily vowed, grinning at her cousin. It was hard to believe she’d ever not been completely thrilled for her cousin. Amazing how new love could alter a perspective so thoroughly.

“Oh, Lily!” Rose exclaimed, throwing herself on Lily and embracing her in a smothering hug.

“We’re family. That’s the sort of thing you do for family,” Lily gasped, struggling to breathe through the mass of bushy orange-red hair covering her mouth.

“Oi! It was my suggestion,” Dom huffed, put out with Lily getting all the credit.

“Yes, yes, I know. You’ve no idea what a relief it is to know you’re all on board with this,” Rose said, looking around at each of the three girls in turn.

“I’m happy for you both,” Lily said, adding, “the whole family is.”

“Then it’s decided. You’ll marry this coming March,” Roxy announced, lifting her glass in a toast.

“I can’t wait to tell Scor. He’s been saying --”

“Lily!” Teddy exclaimed, hauling her clear off her stool as he appeared suddenly behind her, having pushed his way through the nearby patrons to reach her. 

Lily blinked, her jaw falling open as she was smothered for the second time in as many minutes. Solid arms wrapped around her, holding her in a steel embrace that was familiar and welcome, no matter that she’d not expected to see him at all today. Not with him finishing the latest edition of the _Quibbler_.

His embrace tightened, threatening to cut off her air supply, but he didn’t release her. Was he trembling? And why was he out of breath?

Startled by his unprecedented appearance and reaction, Lily wonderingly gasped, “Teddy, what are you doing here? What in Merlin’s name is going on?” 

She frowned as he came into view. His hair was a dull, ash brown and his eyes were the exact shade of glacial blue that Lily had seen in old photos of Remus Lupin. The biggest surprise, however, was his chin. It was far narrower than she’d ever seen before. It reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on -- oh. 

He had the same chin as both Draco and Scor. It must have been inherited from his Black relatives. Lily had never known that he morphed it to be more square and strong. 

Ordinarily, he left most of his features as is, having no need or desire to change them. Why would he? He was gorgeous as is.

The fact that he suddenly looked completely ordinary, for the first time that she could remember, scared her. Something must have happened. Something awful. But what could be worse than his Gran and fiancee dying? Because those events hadn’t zapped him of his abilities before, and he had no reason to try and blend in, so she knew this wasn’t deliberate. Particularly after his reaction upon seeing her here.

“‘Scuse us,” he muttered, ignoring the shocked looks they were receiving from her cousins as he dragged her some distance away to where there were fewer people and it was quieter. Lily went willingly, worried about what had clearly upset her boyfriend.

“Teddy, what is it? Talk to me, please. You’re freaking me out here,” Lily said, needing answers.

“I’ve been searching everywhere for you. I was so scared, you’ve no idea how much. Your flat, mine, our house, Grimmauld Place. I even tried --”

“Goodness, what’s so urgent?” she cut in, alarmed by the lengths he’d gone to to find her.

“I thought I’d be too late -- _again_ ,” he said, voice breaking on the last word. Demons shone from his eyes, their razor talons swiping out to snag her and drag her down to hell. “All afternoon I’ve feared the worst.”

“Too late for what?” she breathed, afraid to hear the answer. “What did you think was wrong?”

His only response was to kiss her, pulling her tight against his chest. Lily felt like he was pulling her inside himself, trying to burrow her in to keep safe. When he finally broke the kiss, they were both gasping. She glanced over her shoulder, and was relieved to not be able to spot her cousins from where they were. The last thing they needed was word getting round before they could break the news the next night.

“Has anything out of the ordinary happened today?” he demanded, running his hands over her arms as though still verifying she was really there.

“You mean aside from this?” Lily asked slowly, feeling her brow furrow as she studied him. A feverish gleam seemed to be lighting his eyes, a manic glint that had her pressing a palm reassuringly to his face.

“Yes,” he said quickly, but leaned into her touch.

“Then, no,” she said, waiting for him to explain what this was all about.

“This arrived for me today,” he rasped, pulling a letter from an inside pocket of his robes and handing it over.

It took her reading through it three times before the words fully sunk in. He’d received a death threat, and she was the target. A threat from the same man that had repeatedly ruined his life, taking nearly every person he cared about away from him.

Lily’s heart went out to him for the sheer terror he must be experiencing at that moment. She was actually a bit shocked he was even functioning and semi coherent after reading what the note said.

It was easier to focus on him than it was to process how she was feeling. She’d been threatened at least a dozen times over the years, more, because of who her father was. But none had ever gotten close enough to try and do her any real harm. Lily knew it would be different with Greyback.

These weren’t just empty words to scare them. Greyback had already proven that he meant it when he made threats. Victorie and Mrs. Tonks could attest to it.

Part of Lily hated the werewolf for his cockiness. Playing with his supper. That’s what this was. This twisted game of cat-and-mouse. He was completely warped. Maybe this would finally draw him out and they could arrest him. Put him behind bars where he belonged. Hopefully.

The idea almost made her long for the Dementors to still be guarding Azkaban. Greyback deserved to spend the rest of his life at their mercy. Too bad Minister Shaklebolt had done away with them, believing they could no longer be trusted. Though, perhaps that was for the best. The creatures were right foul beasts.

“Well that’s certainly cheeky of him -- fashioning himself a fairy tale villain,” Lily said blandly, passing the letter back to Teddy.

“You’re awfully calm about all this,” Teddy said gruffly, likely worried she’d disregard the severity as Victorie had. But Lily was not her cousin, and Harry had instilled a healthy dose of fear in her over the years.

“Better than panicking. Easier to stay rational and make smarter choices,” she explained. He nodded, closing his eyes and cupping her cheeks, clearly terrified of losing her as he bent to rest his forehead against hers. “Have you told Dad yet?”

He was edgy and tense as he forced out a strangled reply, “No. I didn’t actually think of doing that. Not even when I stopped by Grimmauld Place. All I knew was that I had to find you. I was terrified I’d be too late. That he’d already have attacked you. That I’d --”

Definitely only semi coherent. If she’d been in his place, she’d likely be just as much of a mess.

“I’m right here. He hasn’t touched me. He probably just wanted to make you squirm for a bit, like last time,” Lily said gently, reminding him how Greyback had sent a note that time too, then waited a few weeks to strike.

“Lily,” he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, sick at the idea of this being drawn out like that. Living under a cloud of fear had a devastating and deteriorating effect on people. Neither of them particularly wished to experience it.

Lily thought about the situation for a solid minute, assessing every possibility before she spoke again.

“My shift is about to start. Do you want me to call off, and we can go tell Dad now?” she offered, knowing the razor thin edge he must be walking.

He seemed to relax substantially. Teddy studied her, knowing how much she’d hate calling off, but grateful to know she was taking this seriously. Harry had the experience and training to deal with this sort of situation. He’d be able to help and put the proper precautions in place.

“Do you mind?” he checked, not wanting to force her into a decision she’d resent him for later, but wanting her as safe as possible.

“Let’s go,” she breathed, taking his hand to head outside.

It was after six, and without the war, people only worked normal hours at the Ministry, so they headed straight to Grimmauld Place using Side-Along Apparation. Lily was still adjusting to feeling her insides expand when she noticed Teddy’s frown. The house was dark and locked up tight. They let themselves in, but the place was clearly empty for the evening.

“Did they say anything to you about going out tonight?” Lily asked, knowing Teddy had seen them earlier in the week. “Or did you talk to them when you tried the house earlier?”

“Shite. They were still at work when I came by, and it completely slipped my mind with everything else that happened. They’re at the Holyhead Quidditch match tonight,” he growled, dismayed and annoyed. “I was barely thinking when I searched the place earlier.”

“Oh,” Lily said, wondering if they should try there or send an owl. It seemed a waste to sit around waiting --

Teddy surprised her by stating, “St. Mungo’s is full of people. Security guards too. You’ll probably be safer there than waiting here with just me for protection. Go on. We can tell him at dinner tomorrow when we tell him about us.”

“Are you sure?” Lily ventured, having been thinking practically the same thing, but not wanting to stress him out unnecessarily by suggesting it.

“You’re still working a double, right?”

“Yes,” she answered, promising, “I’ll come straight here after my shift ends, and not leave during by breaks. But what about you?”

“He’s not after me. Apparently, he just wants to see me suffering,” Teddy grumbled angrily.

“Teddy,” Lily said sadly, going up on her toes to kiss him. It was sweet and soft. A press of love and support and understanding.

“Mind if I accompany you to work?” he asked sheepishly, half smiling as he recognized his own paranoia in that moment.

“Not at all,” she replied truthfully. Better to be safe than sorry.

~

Lily hated working the night shifts. They were almost always slow and quiet. She was a Healer because she enjoyed the chaos. Ordinarily, she was asleep at night, and without the regular stimulation to occupy her mind that came with the day shift, she was exhausted by the time her first shift ended.

That night’s shift had been even more brutal than any other she could recall. Without patients to focus on, all she could do was worry about Greyback. Fear and doubt and paranoia played on a constant loop. Every noise had her jumping out of her skin, and twice she’d shrieked when a shadow flickered. It was almost as though she actually expected him, known fugitive that he was, to stroll into the very public hospital just to kill her.

She was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t help herself. Part of her insisted he would. That doing so had been his plan all along -- insane as it sounded.

It was to the point that her boss told her to just go home after her morning rounds were finished, and that she’d get someone else to cover her for the day.

Her dad was already at work by then, so she’d just owled Teddy to have him meet her at the Ministry when he finished mailing out the October edition of the _Quibbler_ , and she’d head straight there. No point risking going home for the day where there was potentially a trap waiting for her as there had been for Victorie. Plus, that way they could tell Harry each piece of news together. They’d probably both feel better once they had.

Scuttling feet sounded behind Lily, and she spun, her wand out and pointing before she’d taken a second to think it over. The witch she aimed at gasped, frightened.

Lily felt her tense jaw relax, her spell dying on her lips as she took in the witch not much older than herself. She was still clad in her pajamas and holding an umbrella aloft while performing some sort of tap dance on the floor in her house slippers.

“What happened?” Lily asked, studying her for clues. Was it a cursed umbrella, or something else? Sometimes new cases were difficult to judge by appearances alone.

“It’s raining outside -- if you didn’t know. I went out to fetch the morning post, and my daughter did her first magic. We watched the Muggle show _Singing in the Rain_ yesterday, and I can’t make it stop,” the witch wailed, sounding completely exhausted as her feet shuffled about, performing a complex move that had the witch panting rapidly.

“Have you already been checked in?”

“Every time I try to approach the Welcome Witch, I end up going down a different hallway in the opposite direction,” she gasped, wilting despite her prancing toes.

Lily tried not to laugh, it really wasn’t funny, but it was a welcome relief after the long, tense night she’d had. This was exactly why she enjoyed this type of work.

“Why don’t you step in here, and I’ll try to get you sorted,” Lily suggested, gesturing towards one of her last three stops that morning before she was done.

The room was already occupied, but she doubted the old woman would mind a bit of company. Mrs. Cooper had been paging Lily on and off all night just to have someone to talk to since she wasn’t sleeping well. Lily suspected the older woman was lonely. No family had come to see her in the week she’d been a resident of St. Mungo’s.

“Thank you. Could you find my daughter as well? We got separated in the reception area,” the woman said worriedly. “I know she’s here, I just can’t track her down on my own right yet, and her father had already left for work when this all happened.”

“How considerate you’ve turned out to be, Little Red. I could do with dessert once I’m finished with you,” a male voice said casually from her left, almost amused. “Seeing as I’ve already had an appetizer -- grisly and stringy as it was.”

Lily froze just inside the room, turning to stare at the horror spread out before her. Blood pooled on the floor beneath Mrs. Cooper’s bed, a dark, spreading puddle like spilled scarlet ink. Spray splattered the walls and ceiling as well, ruby red drops rained down from above, and Mrs. Cooper’s arm looked as though someone had been gnawing on it. Pink muscle, coated in red, glistened from the fresh wounds, as well as hints of yellow tissue and white bone peeking out from the depths.

Of course he was there. Greyback. Hadn’t she subconsciously known all night that he’d come for her as soon as he possibly could -- regardless of where she was? The timing of events was simply too perfect for this not to have all been planned out in advance.

He was ready to play. Eleven years was a long time to wait.

With horror, Lily saw his bloodied claws lash out at her.

~

I don’t normally beg for reviews, but I stayed up most of last night to finish this, and the next chapter in each of my other fics since today is my birthday (my present to anyone reading). If you feel up to taking a moment to let me know what you think, I’d consider it the greatest birthday present ever! Thanks :)


	10. 10: Here’s to Preferring Rare Meat

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 10: Here’s to Preferring Rare Meat

Fire raked down her arm as his claw-tipped hand sliced through her flesh, quick as a flick of a whip and thrice as painful. Lily dove, skidding across the floor and rolling to her back. She aimed, screaming, “ _Reducto!_ ”

Greyback was faster than she’d anticipated. He leapt out of the path of her spell, a striking viper, and the jet of light blasted apart the examination room door instead. Screams echoed down the hall as the door exploded, filling the hall with debris.

He was disgusting. Stringy, grey hair, hanging in lank clumps, with random bald patches. Scars littered him face and neck, probably the rest of him too, but thankfully his tattered, filthy clothes covered most of him. His nose was long and blunt -- the beginning of a snout almost, though probably just the result of multiple breakings. 

Worst of all, even more than the curling, red-dipped talons he sported coming from each finger, was his mouth. It was rimmed in blood. Blood trailing down to mask his chin and part of his neck. Blood with gnawed off bits of flesh and tissue stuck like breadcrumbs in honey, with more caught between his teeth.

Where was her new patient? Was the woman hurt? Lily tried to find her, but she couldn’t.

‘ _Diffindo!_ ’ she silently cast, gritting her teeth grimly as a slash opened up on his chest, red blooming like a flower uncurling its petals in sunlight.

He roared in pain, lunging for her, red grimace snarling viciously, and Lily spun away, trying to get to the door. She aimed and silently screamed, ‘ _Impedimenta!_ ’ 

She missed. Gnashing her teeth in frustrated anger, she glanced at the door, but Greyback remained stubbornly in her path. She backpedaled, staying out of reach of his swiping claws, and slipped in the puddle of sticky blood. Lily gasped, her arms pinwheeling as she bent and skidded across the floor, catching herself on the end of the newly deceased Mrs. Cooper’s bed.

With a shove, Lily sent the edge of the bed knocking into Greyback’s knees, forcing him off balance and giving herself a chance to put some more space between them. 

Lily made for the door, but was brought up short when Greyback staggered sideways. Seriously? He was still somehow between her and the door, despite their scuffling.

‘ _Stupefy!_ ’ she silently shot, missing him by a hair. Merlin’s saggy balls, he was fast! She’d never taken on someone with such animalistic survival instincts before even when she’d trained. 

The red jet of light bounced harmlessly off the wall, ricocheting into nothing, and Lily tensed, preparing herself to attack again. She couldn’t allow him to get a hold of her or have the upper hand. If she did, it’d be over with a single swipe across her vulnerable throat.

What was his plan? Kill her and still somehow get out of the hospital? Surely he knew that she’d fight back. That he’d be stopped. But where were the guards?

Purple light headed her way, and Lily dropped to the ground. Where the bloody hell had he gotten a wand from?

Voices from the hall sounded closer -- finally! They were just outside the door to the room she was in. The woman she’d been helping still had yet to make a reappearance. Was her patient all right? Had she gone for help -- as much as she was able to in her dancing condition?

Lily was barely upright again when the force of a wrecking ball slammed into her, sending her careening backwards. Her arms pinwheeled for a second time, but this time her feet slipped out entirely from beneath her, toppling her -- straight through the window.

Glass shards snagged her robes, pulling and renting the fabric, but luckily not cutting her directly. Then Lily was falling. She tucked and rolled on instinct, thanks to years of practice falling off of broomsticks during rough games with her family, and during her last three years playing Chaser for Gryffindor.

She didn’t bother to look back, just turned on the spot, Disapparating. She had to trust that there were enough people in St. Mungo’s to stop Greyback from killing anyone else. Right then, all she could worry about was her own safety -- selfish, though it was. She was the one Greyback was after, and if she were gone, hopefully, he’d leave too.

The familiar sight of the Ministry foyer came into focus a second later. The bustling Floos, green flames igniting periodically. Swirling golden symbols on the cavernous ceiling of the Atrium. The statue that commemorated all who had died fighting during the First and Second Wizarding Wars, wizard, goblin, werewolf, and house-elf alike. She’d seen it all a hundred times over the years. 

Lily shoved through the people arriving for work or heading out for meetings, ignoring the indignant cries as she did. She rushed into an open lift, repeatedly pushing the button for level two, and slamming the grill shut before anyone else could join her.

“I’ll say! Young people are so rude these days,” a man huffed, but Lily was breathing too quickly to attempt a reply. Not to mention he was soon out of sight as she sped towards her father’s department. Lily used the time to mend her robes and tie her hair up. Better for her dad’s sanity if she not show up looking quite so battle worn. There was no time to care for her cut and bleeding arm though as the elevator slowed to a stop.

As soon as the lift opened, she made her way to her dad’s office on autopilot. No one even seemed to notice her, or if they did, she ignored them.

Then he was there. Messy, raven hair. Round glasses illuminating brilliant green eyes. Tall and strong with the sleeves of his robes rolled up to reveal a number of scars along his arms. Funny how the sight of her father’s wounds were comforting, not hideous as Greyback’s had been.

“Daddy,” Lily said, drawing Harry’s immediate attention. She felt like she was five years old again, and had just gotten hurt messing with one of Uncle George’s experiments when she knew she wasn’t even supposed to go in the backroom of his shop.

“Lily! Oh, Merlin, what happened to you?” Harry asked fearfully, moving to her at once, but appearing scared to actually touch her.

Now that she was here, and knew she was safe, all the aches and pains her body had been ignoring made themselves known. Adrenaline was wearing off and shock was setting in, making her body tremble.

“Lily?” Harry prompted, urging her to tell him what brought her before him in such a state.

She still couldn’t believe she was mostly all right. Relatively fine. While her patient… poor Mrs. Cooper. It had probably been her wand that Greyback had taken, unless he’d had one of his own all this time, which she somehow doubted. He’d never been known to carry one before. 

“Greyback,” Lily said quietly, his mere name making her shiver as she explained, “he was in my patient’s room. He killed her. He attacked me. He --”

“Greyback? Why?” Harry gasped, disbelief furrowing his lightning-scarred brow as he studied her. 

The only real injury she had was her arm, and bits of her still shredded lime green sleeve -- the fabric too jagged to quickly mend properly -- were stuck to the parallel cuts. 

“He hasn’t been seen since… Why now? Why you?” Harry murmured, scrambling to piece the clues together.

“He wants to hurt me… because… because of Teddy,” Lily admitted slowly, regretting that they’d waited so long to tell Harry about the pair of them. “He sent Teddy a note yesterday threatening me.”

Harry frowned, shaking his head a bit. Lily could tell he wasn’t following. He likely thought her an odd choice to target. Jamie was more like a brother to him if Greyback was doing this to hurt Teddy. Probably, Harry would never have suspected the truth at all, not if she didn’t say it explicitly. 

“I don’t --”

Lily interrupted, announcing simply, “I love him.”

Harry stared at her, clearly stunned as his mouth fell open.

Lily reached out to him, wincing as she did. The action spurred Harry into motion. He was shifting and striding to his door in an instant, bellowing, “Boot! Danforth! Get to the Minister’s office -- now!”

“We were going to tell you this morning,” Lily offered, not able to get a good read on what Harry was currently thinking.

“Which part?” he asked, conjuring a bandage that wound tightly around her arm. Lily blinked, wondering why she’d not thought to do the same in the lift. Shock most likely.

“Both,” Lily stated quickly.

“I’m sure it’s an interesting story,” he said, guiding her towards the fireplace. Only department heads had them in their offices, and he’d been promoted a few years earlier.

“Potter, you’ll never believe what we just -- oh, you already know,” an Auror said, several years her dad’s senior, looking from Harry to her and back again.

“Yes, Dawlish,” Harry said dryly, waving the older man off, a silent order to begin investigating.

“Minister’s office!” Harry called, tossing glittering Floo powder into the empty grate. He gently nudged Lily forward, and she stepped into the flickering green flames that had suddenly erupted.

“Harry? Lily? What’s happened? Why’d you take the Floo?” Hermione gasped, coming around her desk to approach the pair that had unceremoniously arrived amidst a grey cloud of soot. Her critical eyes took them in, missing nothing. 

“Greyback tried to kill my daughter,” Harry replied tersely, not sparing one of his oldest friend’s a glance as he checked the room and hallway. Harry was saying something to someone outside the door, but Lily couldn’t make it out.

“Oh, Lily,” Hermione said worriedly, touching the white gauze lightly, “you’re hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter, Aunt Hermione. Dad, what are you going to do?” Lily demanded, never recalling seeing him quite so tense before. “He had a wand. None of the security guards showed up at all, and I had a patient that --”

Harry held up a finger, stalling her from explaining more, though he’d nodded along as she spoke, filing all of the information away.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry called, conjuring his trademark silver stag. “Get to the Ministry -- now. Lily’s hurt,” Harry ordered, gritting out the words. The Stag trotted off, soaring away, before he’d even finished speaking.

“He was already on his way,” Lily said absently, realizing who her father’s message was for. Or he would be soon enough. He normally had the Quibbler off at the post office first thing, and it rarely took very long.

“Now he’ll be here sooner,” Harry said, correctly assuming Teddy would jump at the summons. Both, because of who had sent it, and because of the contents being delivered.

“Hermione, look after her,” he barked.

Aunt Hermione, to her credit, didn’t bat an eye at Harry’s sharp tone, no doubt used to it and able to look past it to the more important matter at hand as she nodded her agreement.

“Dad?” Lily asked quietly, unwillingly scared, and needing his reassurance just then.

“I’m going to St. Mungo’s,” Harry explained, pausing long enough to meet her hazel eyes. “With any luck, someone in that massive place managed to stop Greyback, though I’m not counting on it if he still has a wand. For now, stay with your aunt. Two Aurors are posted outside with orders to only let Teddy in until I get back.”

Then, with a swift hug, he was gone.

“Why is Teddy coming?” Hermione asked, and Lily could practically see the pieces coming together in her mind, her intelligence helping her to reason out the only logical conclusion.

“He’s the reason Greyback is targeting me,” Lily said, helping her aunt along the path to its inevitable end.

“Of course. I’d wondered,” Hermione said, smiling softly. 

“You did?” Lily asked curiously. She wondered what people saw when they took in her and Teddy’s interactions. 

“Over the last few months, I’ve seen you laugh more than you have in years. You shine when he’s near. It’s the same for him. But Harry said it was nothing, so I didn’t press,” Hermione mused.

“We hadn’t told Dad yet,” Lily admitted. “Not until just now, actually.”

“I see,” Hermione said, biting back a laugh at her dad’s expense.

“Lily!” Teddy cried, racing into the room and reaching her in three strides. The very second he was close enough, his arms went around her.

“Teddy!” Lily breathed, relaxing into his hold, and pulling him even tighter to her. She clung, inhaling his scent as it swirled around her, embracing her in its comforting hold as well.

“What happened?” he demanded, not understanding how things could have gone wrong when it’d only been a couple hours -- all of which she’d spent safely at work in a crowded hospital where security guards were posted on every floor.

“Greyback came to the hospital, but I’m fine,” she said, clenching her jaw when he gently touched the fresh bandage. A bit of blood had seeped through, painting a thin line of deep scarlet. “It’s just a scratch.”

“I could have lost you,” he said thickly, the full scope of the situation hitting him. “Just like…”

“But you didn’t. I fought him off. I’m right here,” Lily reassured him.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” he vowed, reverently touching her cheek with shaky fingers.

Lily swallowed, attempting a bit of levity to ease his mind. “That sounds a bit impractical.”

“Who cares?” he muttered, leaning in to brush a loving kiss on her lips. It was a life-affirming caress, not passionate.

But it quickly became so. The kiss deepened, morphing into a declaration of every fear and hope this situation had made each of them feel.

“I’ll just give you two a minute,” Hermione murmured. “But I’ll be just outside the door.” Both of them ignored her quiet exit.

Too soon, Teddy pulled back, staring intently at her. “I’d only just read your owl when Harry’s Patronus arrived. For a second I feared…”

“We’re going to stop him,” she said fiercely.

Teddy nodded, claiming her lips in another bone-melting kiss.

“How did Harry take the news about us?” he asked, his lips moving against hers as he spoke several minutes later. She doubted he was actually interested in hearing about that right then. More, he wanted something to distract him and take his mind off what had happened to her.

“Not really sure, to be honest. He didn’t say anything, so your guess is as good as mine,” Lily said easily, unconcerned. 

It had probably been a shock to him, but her dad would come around once he had a chance to think it over. She and Teddy were well suited, and it wasn’t like Harry had not gone for his best mate’s little sister, so he wasn’t in any position to judge. Unless you considered the fact that he was Lily’s father, of course. Somehow that meant different rules applied. Guess she’d have to wait until she had two kids of her own to fully understand. Maybe three kids. The idea was starting to appeal to her more and more.

“He was probably more worried about Greyback,” she added, regretting that she’d been the one responsible for scaring both men so thoroughly.

“Probably,” Teddy agreed, sighing and tugging her to sit on his lap, as though he needed to feel more of her to reassure himself she was going to be all right.

Teddy touched the bandage on her arm, hesitating. Regret swamped his face at the evidence she’d been harmed at all. Harmed because someone wanted to hurt him. He fiddled with the frayed end piece.

“Well, go on. You know you want to see how bad it is,” Lily encouraged, sensing it wasn’t too bad. She’d moved pretty quick earlier. Her reflexes from years of mandatory training weren’t as rusty as she’d expected. Truthfully, though, she’d gotten lucky, and she knew it. 

If it was truly awful, she’d not have wanted him to see the injury until it’d been properly treated. In fact, she’d need to get her hands on some of the dittany and silver salve they used at St. Mungo’s to treat werewolf-inflicted wounds. That would help it heel the best it could. Minimize the scarring too. Honestly, though, she’d been hurt far worse over the years playing Quidditch.

The next couple days were likely to be a bit rough though. A low-grade fever would set in, and she’d feel weak and nauseous. Possibly even have trouble sleeping. Not a fun prospect, but not awful either.

When the bandage finally came off, she was relieved to be correct. Teddy turned her arm this way and that, assessing it carefully. Lily watched him swallow, waiting to see how he’d take it. Mentally, she braced herself to deal with self-recriminations, but Teddy swallowed again and looked up at her.

“You’re the Healer. You tell me, how bad is it?” Teddy finally rasped, keeping his face carefully blank as he did.

“It’ll scar some, but not so bad as Uncle Bill’s face,” she answered honestly. 

He sighed at that, long and low, relief evident. She liked that he could read her well enough to know she wasn’t just putting a brave face on it, and that he trusted her to know herself. Then he nodded, asking, “Can I clean it, or should we wait?”

“Clean it. I’m not sure what all was under his nails, and the last thing I need is it getting infected,” she said, shuttering as she recalled bits of Mrs. Cooper, at the very least. It turned her stomach to realize he’d used those same claws on her after using them to murder the defenseless old woman. Possibly, it was also the wound making her feel a bit queasy.

“ _Scourgify_ ,” he whispered, the dried blood and visible foreign bits vanishing immediately. 

The remaining skin was tender, flushed a pale red and swollen along the open edges. It started just below her shoulder and ran down to the crease of her elbow. He’d gotten her with three nails, though only two went the entire length of her upper arm. It was grisly, but only really cut into the skin, missing most of the underlying muscle. 

It might get a bit stiff when the weather changed, but shouldn’t otherwise impede her much, if at all in the future. Maybe she’d end up preferring her meat rare too like her uncle and Teddy, who had inherited the preference from his dad. Time would tell.

“ _Episkey_ ,” he added, then frowned when it did nothing to mend the shallowly torn flesh.

Lily snorted, and winced as the movement made her arm burn a bit. Fire to go with the steady throbbing. “You know that doesn’t work on cursed wounds.” Which this was, because despite the lack of full moon, Greyback was so much closer to his beastly side that he was always partially transitioned. 

“Had to try,” he muttered, pulling her close again, seeming content just to hold her until Harry returned and gave them the all clear. 

After he’d had his say on their relationship, of course.


	11. 11: Aftermath

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This chapter is written from Teddy’s perspective.

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 11: Aftermath

Harry returned shortly after Teddy finished checking over Lily’s wound. She didn’t seem to be in much pain, so that was something. He was a bit disappointed he’d not been able to do more for it. His gran had been a deft hand at healing spells, and had taught him, but lycanthropy was a whole different ball park. 

Sometimes he wondered how his father handled it. No one ever really explicitly said, and Teddy had never been able to bring himself to ask. Their society, as a whole, still feared and ostracized werewolves. It couldn’t have been easy for his dad, and he didn’t particularly like thinking about him suffering like that.

“And I thought my daughter’s relationship was a handful,” Hermione muttered from the doorway, having opened it to let Harry inside.

Her statement had Teddy glancing at the moving photographs the Minister had hung on the wall of Rose and Hugo. A new one was up too. It had Scorpius and Rose sitting on a garden bench. Scorpius was whispering in her ear and Rose was blushing and smiling brilliantly at whatever secret words her fiance was uttering. They were the very essence of a young couple happily in love, and everything a parent could dream of for their child to find. 

The photos were the only personal touches Hermione had made on the room. Aside from that, it was a very professional room perfect for meetings. The chairs were just comfortable enough for extended visits, and the neutral colors allowed the room to both welcome feedback or discourse and appear formidable when necessary.

“Greyback?” Lily asked, looking to her father for news. 

Harry shook his head, sighing as he admitted, “He was long gone by the time I got there. They think he followed you out the window.”

There was a question in the statement, and Lily automatically replied, “It got me out of there, and I wasn’t hurt, so I didn’t really see the point mentioning it. My new patient? She had a --”

“The woman and her daughter are fine. Worried about you though. I promised you were safe,” Harry said smoothly, forestalling her question. Lily smiled in gratitude. 

She’d gone out a window? He’d have to talk to her later about holding back important details. ‘Course she’d not actually explained any of what happened, too busy reassuring him that she was alive. So perhaps it was his fault she’d not said sooner.

Teddy realized Harry was studying the pair of them curled up in a chair, and was abruptly self-conscious. He respected Harry more than any other man alive. Saw him as a father. Was terrified of disappointing him. What if he disapproved of Teddy and Lily’s relationship? He was a lot older than her, and he didn't want Harry to think he was taking advantage of her or that he’d ever done anything inappropriate with her before he moved away. What if he didn’t think Teddy was good enough? What if he blamed Teddy for what Greyback had done to her this morning?

Lily, sensing his distress and anxiety, threaded her fingers with his, squeezing his hand. The simple action reminded him that he wasn’t alone, and that she’d love him no matter what Harry said.

He didn’t know how she’d so accurately been able to read his mind, but he was grateful for it regardless.

When Harry moved to squat down before them, Teddy held his breath, certain judgement was about to fall on him.

“How long…” Harry asked, trailing off as he looked between them.

Bravely, Teddy replied, “Six months.”

“More or less,” Lily added, digging her elbow into his side. 

Had she thought to tell her family less? Maybe use the night she’d come to him rather than the night at the Three Broomsticks? They’d not discussed sharing the details of how they got together, but she might have a point that an edited version of events was necessary. Letting the rest of her family know about them might take a tad more sensitivity than they’d needed to tell Al and Jamie.

“Ever since you’ve been back,” Harry murmured, piecing the timeline together mentally. “No wonder I didn’t see a change in how you interacted. I just figured you got on better since you were both grown now.”

“Harry, I’m sorry -- so sorry, for everything,” Teddy whispered, a pleading edge lining his words so sharp it seemed to draw blood. At the very least it made Harry flinch.

“Have I failed you so much?” Harry asked sadly, reaching out to rest a hand over where Teddy and Lily’s hands were linked.

“What?” Teddy asked, startled. Lily, for her part, seemed content to let the two men sort things out amongst themselves as she watched.

“That you don’t know… there is no one in the world I would trust her with more than you,” Harry said softly, clasping their hands tighter. Sincerity poured from him, rushing over Teddy like a cleansing summer rain shower.

“Even now?” he asked, doubt creeping unbidden into his shaky voice.

“Since the day your father placed you in my care, I have loved you as my own. As my godfather loved me. Sirius loved me enough to die to protect me -- I would do no less for you,” Harry said, infusing the statement with a wealth of unmistakable love. “That sort of love is unconditional and unshakable. I’ve watched you grow into a remarkable man. There is no one more worthy of my daughter.”

Teddy felt his eyes sting at the pronouncement, knowing Harry had meant every word. Lily burrowed deeper into his chest, appreciating the blessing they were being given. He knew how much her family’s support, particularly her father’s meant to her. About the same as it meant to him.

“Harry, he threatened her. _He hurt her -- I can’t lose her_ ,” Teddy said thickly, emotion forming a tight knot in his throat that was difficult to speak or even breathe around.

“Teddy,” Lily whispered, wrapping an arm tenderly about his shoulders. He hated worrying her, but he couldn’t help it. Not when Greyback was involved. 

“She’s my baby, and apparently your heart. We’ll keep her safe. I give you my word,” Harry vowed, a hard glint in his eyes. 

It was the fiercely protective side of his godfather that Teddy had relied on whenever he’d needed help over the years. The side that would do anything for his family. Harry had never let him down -- what happened to Victorie being out of his control, and a result of her own stubborn refusal to take the necessary precautions -- and right now, Teddy needed Harry more than he ever had before.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Lily mused ruefully.

“Probably not,” Harry warned, wincing a little, but to Lily’s credit, she didn’t argue.

“Let’s head to Grimmauld Place. I want to warn your mum and brothers about all of this,” Harry suggested, glancing over at Hermione. His sister-in-law nodded, agreeing to some unspoken request. Probably to handle the situation from the Ministry side. Or share the news with the rest of the family. Possibly both.

Teddy hardly paid attention as they Flooed to Grimmauld Place or when Harry requested Ginny, Jamie, and Al come home immediately, the latter two each instructed to bring Aiyana and Cara as well.

“Dad? Uh, I should warn you…” Lily began, fidgeting while they waited. Teddy had no idea what she was suddenly so nervous about. “Jamie and Al already know about me and Teddy. Mum too. Well, she sort of does,” she corrected, a troubled frown worming its way across her face as she watched Harry for his reaction.

“Ginny knows?” Teddy asked, startled. She’d not told him about that. Harry looked equally surprised.

“Yeah, I talked to her a few weeks ago, about how I felt about you, and that night at…” she trailed off, giving him a pointed look.

“You did?” he gasped, feeling his face heat. 

Lily’s brilliant smile and glance at his hair told him that his abilities had finally returned, and that his hair was probably Weasley scarlet right then. He’d never actually noticed when his hair or features changed, the process automatic and seamless. 

His gran had given him books when he was younger, the one’s his mum used to learn to control it for her work as an Auror, but he preferred to let the changes happen naturally. Even when they led to embarrassing revelations. As if his hair and eyes, the two features that shifted most often, were like mood rings for him -- broadcasting his emotions continuously. Good thing he was generally happy and mellow. He cringed to consider what it might have been like for him otherwise while he’d been at Hogwarts.

“Yes. I needed her advice,” Lily admitted, shrugging slightly.

No wonder Ginny made that comment the other week about wild adventures with strangers. He’d thought she’d been referring to Jamie back before he and Aiyana got serious or Fred’s latest bird, but she’d winked at him because she’d known he slept with Lily before recognizing her.

“She never said a word,” Harry muttered, undeniably disgruntled.

“I asked her not to. Until we’d had a chance to sort things out between us,” Lily said carefully.

“So I’m the last to know,” he said, sounding slightly hurt. “Did you really think I’d be angry with you?”

“No. We only just told Jamie and Al. Mostly, we just didn’t want it to be like it was --”

“With Victorie,” Harry finished, understanding dawning. “Teddy, it was the circumstances everyone had a problem with, and they are vastly different now. Plus, you’re not the same person you were back then. You’re not giving up your dreams to chase after someone that doesn’t even know her own dreams yet.

“None of us ever had any issue with you as the bloke in her life. You’ve always been a part of this family, and I’m thrilled that it’s turning out this way. Everyone else will feel the same too. I swear.”

He heard what Harry wasn’t saying. Teddy had found his voice over the years. He’d learned how to fight for what he wanted, not just give and give and give. Vickie hadn’t meant to take advantage of his feelings, he knew that. 

The real trouble had been that he’d let her. Never once had he said no to her, or told her what he wanted. She’d not even known they wanted different things. He’d just been along for the ride, and been willing to make all the sacrifices. He never had the chance to learn if she would have made sacrifices or compromises for him in turn. Their relationship had never progressed that far.

What they’d had wasn’t healthy, and it probably would have fallen apart in the long run. Just as everyone had predicted. Either that, or he’d have grown to resent her, which was just as bad.

Was it already so obvious that things with Lily were different? The family saw them together at least once a week for months now. Did they already project a more united front -- one that was mutually respectful and cooperative as well as loving?

“I know. And Lily isn’t Vickie. We just didn’t want to stir up the past. ‘Course that was before Greyback decided he wanted a repeat,” he finally said, sensing Harry was waiting for a reaction.

Harry nodded his agreement. Then, with a less than discrete glance at Lily’s hand, he wryly asked, “Anything else I should know?”

“Yes,” Teddy admitted, glancing at Lily. She was grinning, and nodded eagerly for him to continue. Instead, he said, “Go on. You know you want to be the one to sa--”

Lily cut in, too excited to wait, saying, “We bought a house!”

“Rather, we’re building one. In Holyhead,” Teddy clarified, smiling at her exuberance. The fact that she could still be so happy over their future together after her experience with Greyback that morning was refreshing. Harry seemed to feel the same, because Teddy saw him minutely relax.

“Yes, what he said. Oh, Dad, just wait until you see it. It’s right on the coast, and it’ll be brilliant!” Lily gushed, launching herself forward to hug Harry. 

He caught her easily in his arms, and by the smile he wore, he was thrilled by their news. Perhaps a little relieved too.

Teddy realized Harry was glad they weren’t already engaged on top of everything else. He had plans to do things right this time. Which included getting Harry’s blessing before asking her. All of which he intended to wait to do until after this current mess was sorted. Honestly, he had plans that involved asking her on their first night in their new home. It seemed properly romantic, and a great way to start out their future together.

And the way Harry tightened his hold on Lily told Teddy that he was just as worried that she’d never get the opportunity to enjoy that future she was so thrilled about.

“I look forward to seeing it myself,” Harry said softly, squeezing her even tighter to him as he met Teddy’s eyes over her shoulder. 

Silently, they agreed to keep her safe. They would not fail this time. The stakes were too important.

~

Surprisingly, it was Fleur that took the threat against Lily the hardest. She was distraught when she learned her niece had been threatened the same way her daughter had once been. The idea of losing someone else to such a vicious attack overwhelming her. Teddy suspected that she blamed herself for not putting her foot down more firmly when Vickie first started skirting her Auror guard and going out unprotected. Fleur hadn’t encouraged her daughter to do it, but she hadn’t asked her to stop either. She’d never really believed Greyback would kill Victorie, not until after it happened.

Bill sent an owl over the next day letting Teddy know that he’d do whatever he could to help and would be available if needed, but that he would be at home with Fleur more often than not until Greyback was captured or killed. 

Ginny’s face had been unreadable, but she’d looked at Harry, and said, “Protect her, Harry.” The simple words were an order, and Harry had nodded gravely, accepting full responsibility for the burden of looking after their daughter.

Afterwards, Lily had taken Ginny into the kitchen for a cup of tea, to further treat her wounds, and ostensibly to discuss all the new developments in their relationship. Aiyana and Cara had joined them, leaving Harry, Jamie, Al, and Teddy to discuss how best to go about keeping Lily safe. The rest of the family too, since Greyback was known to hurt others when he couldn’t reach his intended target.

Several Aurors had popped in throughout the course of the day. Harry had quickly briefed each one in turn, then listened as they offered suggestions or assigned them various roles in an effort to provide protection for Lily and apprehend Greyback as swiftly as possible.

All of the family dropped in too. Each wanted to check for themselves that Lily was alive and well. Advice was repeatedly offered from them as well, as were offers of assistance in any way possible. Harry accepted any and all help that was offered, sifting through it with practiced ease.

Throughout it all, Lily offered not a single word of protest. Teddy saw the dismay she tried to conceal at some of the extreme lengths they were planning on going to to keep her safe -- including having her temporarily move back into Grimmauld Place and have at least one Auror with her at all times, particularly at work -- but she agreed to each and every proposed suggestion.

Teddy decided to stay at Grimmauld Place for the time being as well. Looking after Lily when her cursed wounds had ended up leaving her bedridden for the first three days. She’d recovered nicely though, and the scars weren’t nearly as bad as they could have been. He swore they didn’t bother him in the least when she asked. But the truth was that they made him all the more determined to protect her every time he saw them. They reminded him so much of the final sight of Vickie after Greyback had murdered her.

While he doubted Harry or Ginny would protest him sharing a room with Lily, it felt too weird, so he moved into what had once been the room he’d shared with Jamie over the years and had stayed in when he first returned to Britain. Lily gave him a hard time about it, even Apparating into his room one night in skimpy lingerie, but he just couldn’t shag her in Harry’s house. It felt wrong.

That actually prompted them to discuss moving in together sooner, once Greyback was no longer a threat. Teddy might feel uncomfortable with being with Lily when her parents would know, but he really liked the idea of them living together sooner. Just talking about it gave him hope that they’d have the future they hoped for. Lily’s lease was up in November, so they’d agreed she’d move in with him afterwards -- assuming they weren’t still staying at Grimmauld Place by then. 

One week slowly turned into two, and they’d still had no luck catching Greyback. Everyone was on edge. Greyback had yet to even be sighted by anyone. Wanted posters, like those that had once been made featuring Sirius Black littered Wizarding Britain. It didn’t help. They were no closer to finding the werewolf than they’d been eleven years ago.

“Why don’t you use me as bait?” Lily suggested that night, thoroughly stunning each person in turn. 

Her brothers and their significant others had been joining them most nights for dinner ever since the initial attack. Safety in numbers was only part of the reason. Mostly, it was the scare causing everyone to appreciate each other more. After Victorie, they all understood the dangers. As well as how it could all be over in an instant.

“Absolutely not,” Teddy said quickly, nearly choking on the bite of pork chop he’d just put in his mouth. He coughed and sputtered, horrified by the idea of putting her in harm's way for any reason.

“I don’t really mean me -- I wouldn’t do that to you guys -- but _you_ can be me,” she clarified, looking at him meaningfully.

Nearly ten seconds passed before Teddy realized what she was suggesting. He could use his ability and morph himself to look like her. Then deliberately provide an opportunity for Greyback to attack. It was a valid option, and one he couldn’t believe he’d not thought of himself before now.

“I’m not knowingly putting him in danger either,” Harry said firmly, scowling at Lily for suggesting such a dangerous plan. She looked slightly abashed, likely because she’d been willing to put Teddy in such a position. 

Personally, he was thrilled. A bubble of pride swelled in his chest that she’d consider him so competent and capable. The pride was wrapped in a thick layer of velvety tenderness too. How was it that she so clearly saw that he needed to be part of taking the werewolf down? For Victorie. For his gran. For his dad. For closure. 

The future beckoned, but it would be all the sweeter if he could close the chapters of his past first.

“Harry, I’m thirty years old now. You can’t protect me forever,” Teddy argued, still rolling the idea over and how best to execute the plan.

“Watch me,” Harry said darkly.

“You know I can do this. Look at what you faced when you were less than half my age. I can handle myself, and it’s not like you wouldn’t be there,” Teddy coaxed, completely on board with the idea. 

They couldn’t continue forever as they were. Eventually someone would slip up, or let their guard down, and Greyback would be there, ready for it. Then Lily would --

No. He couldn’t even consider the possibility.

Harry looked pained, shaking his head. He looked about the table, searching the others for an ally, but found none.

“It’s the best way to handle this quickly and keep her safe. I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Teddy added grimly, anxious for the opportunity to take on the man that was so hellbent on destroying his life. The one that had heaped loss after loss on him.

And all because his dad had convinced the other werewolves to turn their backs on Greyback during the war, helping ensure Voldemort and his cohorts were defeated. An act that destroyed Greyback’s vision of the future he’d have.

That reminder seemed to do the trick though. Harry’s eyes closed, and Teddy knew he’d cave. After all, Harry understood better than anyone else what Teddy was feeling. The motivation that inspired him.

“It appears,” Harry said slowly, sighing, “that we have much to discuss then.”

Teddy followed Harry into his study so that they could speak privately. A question popped out almost unbidden, “Why did you approve so easily of my relationship with Lily?” 

He’d been thinking about it since the day Lily was attacked, but then he’d been preoccupied looking after her as she recovered, and trying to help with the plans to capture Greyback, so he’d not found the proper moment to ask. Now probably wasn’t the time either, but he was very curious to hear the answer.

“Because I always hoped for this. For the two of you to end up together,” Harry admitted, smiling faintly.

“Truly?” Teddy asked, feeling astonished. He’d never have predicted it himself.

“Yes,” Harry confirmed, then explained, “ever since that summer before your seventh year. Remember it?”

“Not really,” Teddy answered slowly, confused.

“You were so excited that you were seventeen. An adult. No one could tell you where you could or couldn’t go. For about a week, while you were staying here, you were going on about celebrating Nick Macmillan’s birthday.”

“We were going to the Leaky, then out into Muggle London for a night out,” Teddy said, recalling the event now.

“But Lily asked you to take her flying after dinner, so you delayed heading out,” Harry continued.

“Then I offered to read her a story.” Teddy smiled, thinking back. 

Jamie and Al had been refusing to let her fly with them for weeks, saying she was too little and would only slow them down or get in the way. She’d pretended not to care, but that day, Jamie had been particularly nasty about it, so she’d come to him. Usually, she’d just disappear into her room when they got like that, but instead, she’d come to him. He’d hoped that by taking her out, Jamie would take his cue from Teddy’s example and stop being so mean to her. It’d worked.

But that day, they’d stayed out until Ginny called them in and announced Lily had to go to bed. She’d been all keyed up, energy overflowing from the thrill of soaring about for hours on end and learning all the tricks Teddy was willing to teach the almost seven-year-old Lily. He’d known there was no way she’d be able to fall asleep anytime soon, and he’d not wanted her to get into trouble, so he’d offered to read her a story -- one he’d been writing for fun, practicing for a career in journalism. 

She’d not actually asked him to stay. He’d offered, barely sparing a thought for the party he’d be missing. They’d had fun together, and he was excited to hear her thoughts about what he’d written, knowing she’d be honest with him. Children were usually the most brutally honest, not understanding that they should soften their blows to spare someone’s feelings.

It had been the first time he’d shared his writings with anyone, always too shy and self-conscious prior to that. But she’d been riveted, and told him he had to become a writer, or else.

He’d never put those pieces together before. That it was Lily who had given him the confidence to pursue the career he now had and adored. Fate could be so strange sometimes.

It was also interesting to realize he’d always had a habit of putting others’ wants before his own. A fact Lily was aware of, and went to great lengths to ensure he didn’t do too often. Usually, she’d make a point to ask what his plans were before sharing her own, or always providing multiple options and letting him decide when they did things together. She looked out for him every bit as much as he looked out for her.

“She told me the next day that she was going to marry you someday,” Harry said, seeming lost in thought himself. 

“She didn’t!” Teddy laughed, having already known about her crush from when Lily told him, but not having known she told Harry about it.

“She did,” he said ruefully. “And I’ve hoped she would ever since. I couldn’t imagine anything better than truly calling you son. Especially after you took such pains to make her happy, and seemed happy yourself when you did.”

“Do you mean that?” Teddy asked wonderingly. 

“The age gap was bigger between your parents, and having such a difference exist is quite normal in the wizarding world,” Harry reminded him, shrugging. “I didn’t see why that would be an issue, and knowing you as I do, and have, well… let’s just say I meant it when I said there was no one else I’d trust with her as much as you.”

“Then let’s figure out how to keep her safe,” he said determinedly.

Just then wasn’t the time to discuss marriage. But after all of this was over… Yes. Perhaps then...


	12. 12: Huff and Puff

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This chapter is written from Teddy’s perspective. Only two more chapters!

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 12: Huff and Puff

Harry and Teddy spent several hours coming up with a plan to trap Greyback. In the end, they decided on the simplest course of action. Harry and a few of the Aurors working for him would go to Lily’s apartment and wait, while Teddy, disguised as Lily, would visibly walk to her flat from the Apparation point after her shift ended at St. Mungo’s and the reverse before it began.

Ideally, Greyback would be watching and consider it the perfect opportunity to attack.

It had taken a bit of time to get Harry to agree, the real reason being that he wasn’t on board with Teddy being exposed for any length of time. Ultimately, he’d come around, recognizing the need for Greyback to see “Lily” coming or going from the flat to tempt him into attacking. 

It was better than sitting around waiting indefinitely at least. Something was bound to go wrong if they did, and that’d put the real Lily in danger -- a chance neither Harry nor Teddy was willing to take. 

The plan seemed simple enough. And given Greyback’s impatience to attack the first time, they’d expected him to jump on the chance of finishing what he’d started in St. Mungo’s. 

Except he didn’t.

For two weeks, Teddy came and went from Lily’s flat precisely when he knew she was moving to or from Grimmauld Place. They kept providing more and more opportunities for Greyback to attack. Anything they could safely try to draw him out. Lily was at her wit’s end having to plan everything out and take all of the extra precautions and security, though she never complained. Harry, Teddy, and two Aurors even spent the night in Lily’s flat, hoping Greyback might try something after dark. 

He didn’t.

The werewolf had gone from utterly predictable to a complete mystery on the flip of a coin!

It was as though Lily fighting back had made him second guess the wisdom of targeting her. An idea that Teddy personally found unlikely -- no matter how much he might wish it were the case.

If Harry and the Aurors weren’t so meticulous about remaining undetected while in the flat with him, Teddy would hazard to guess that Greyback knew it was a trap. But they were. Everyone knew how important this was, and Harry had only the very best working with him on it.

Perhaps Greyback’s wolf senses gave him an advantage. Animal instincts warning him to bide his time. Or maybe his ability to scent in human form was somehow enhanced given how close he was to his wolf form given how much he embraced that side of himself. Whatever it was, their idea, initially considered genius, was evidently a bust.

A couple days before Halloween, just over a month after Greyback first made contact with Teddy, they finally had to admit defeat. The plan wasn’t working, and they couldn’t keep it up indefinitely so they scrapped it, allowing Harry and Teddy to return to staying at Grimmauld Place and the Aurors split between Lily’s flat and Grimmauld Place to return to their own homes. 

Besides, Teddy missed spending his evenings alone with Lily or going out with her and having fun. They hadn’t been alone in weeks to be intimate or relax simply talk. As a result, there’d been very little laughter in their days. He missed her smile. Missed seeing her light up when he surprised her at work or they made plans for their house. 

Their house… they hadn’t even been out to see it since the workers broke ground the week before -- over a week ahead of schedule. This was a time they should have been celebrating. He was dying to see how the place was turning out, as he knew Lily was, but Harry had advised against going until this mess was behind them and they could do so safely. Currently, it was assumed that Greyback didn’t even know of the place, and they wanted to keep it that way. 

He couldn’t wait until he and Lily moved in and got started building the future he dreamed of them having together. All of his thoughts inevitably wound around to thoughts of the future. It’d been that way ever since deciding to build a house together. He’d finally have that family and home he longed for and had been missing on and off all of his life. If it was anything like the first six months he’d had with Lily, he’d be the happiest man alive.

But hell, since he was staying at her flat, he’d barely even seen her for more than a handful of minutes in weeks. He went to sleep each night in her bed, surrounded by her things, but not her. It wasn’t enough. At least he was with her that evening, the Potter family gathering at Grimmauld Place for dinner now that he and Harry were back. 

And even better, Harry and Ginny weren’t fighting anymore. The two had fought more in the last month than Teddy could remember them fighting in the whole of his thirty years. Ginny was terrified, and upset that Harry had not succeeded in capturing Greyback yet. Harry was just as worried, and that had the older couple snapping at each other and bickering far more frequently than normal. 

Teddy was actually a little surprised neither seemed to blame him in the least -- considering he was the reason Greyback was targeting Lily. But they weren’t. They were worried about him if anything. Though mostly, they were just happy that the two had fallen in love and made each other so happy. Or at least they had been, and would be again once Lily was safe.

The suspense was slowly eating away at him. He could barely sleep, so afraid that he’d lose the fiery redhead. His mind just went round and round chasing worry after worry. Some days it was hard to remember how he’d even spent his time in South America these last years without his hellcat. It was almost as if time hadn’t started until that conversation in the bar and the events that followed.

Lily was incredible. His other half. Joy and peace. Excitement and wonder. Challenge and passion. She represented all of it for him. 

He’d been lucky enough to fall in love twice in his life. The first time, it had been the consuming love of a child on the pinnacle of adulthood. Eager to experience all that life had to offer and play at adulting. Now, with Lily, it was the enduring love of a true partnership. She filled all the empty places in his life, and he’d never fully recover from the loss of her. He wouldn’t want to move on. There would be no third chance for love. Not for him.

“I’m scared of what might happen,” he whispered in her ear after supper.

The two of them were curled up in an oversized chair before the fire in her parents’ living room watching Al and James play wizarding chess, both trying to cheat when the other was distracted, though their respective pieces kept ratting them out. Neither of the boys really had the patience or strategic mind for the game, but their Uncle Ron had taught them, so they tried to stay sharp for his sake. Plus, they both enjoyed finding new ways to cheat.

Harry and Ginny were watching from the sofa, and Aiyana and Cara were playing a Muggle card game on the floor. Every now and then Teddy caught sight of the brightly colored cards as the girls slapped them down as quickly as they drew them. Cara and Aiyana were both only children, like Teddy, so they found the dynamics of the Weasley-Potter bunch as fascinating as Teddy always had.

It hadn’t taken long at all for the family to adjust to his and Lily’s changing relationship. ‘Course the only real difference was they held hands and cuddled on the sofa instead of just engaging in teasing banter like they had before. And they still did plenty of that too when they were together. 

The rest of the Weasley crew accepted them just as easily. Teddy had felt fairly confident that the others would be able to see how different it was between him and Lily, but he’d not expected them to approve so wholeheartedly. Yet from the moment they learned of them, he and Lily were treated as a single unit. It was the same way the other established couples in the family were treated -- which was vastly different than how Fred’s flavors of the week were tolerated. Or Lucy’s new mini-Percy Ministry boyfriend.

More than that, the few times the family had been able to get together, he and Lily had been offered support and encouragement to get through this rough patch with Greyback. And usually, that was immediately followed with inquiries about their new house and ribbing about how long they’d be holed up in it before they let the family see it once they moved in. Bill had even written a couple times, though he and Fleur were still absent from the traditional gatherings. 

The best part was when they were with the other Potters though. Teddy had always felt like he belonged, but it was slightly different now. It was such a subtle shift that he felt incapable of articulating what it was precisely, but it was there nonetheless. They still joked with him, and expected him to help out and clean up, treating him like family instead of a welcome guest -- the way Aiyana and Cara were still often treated. But now he also felt a bit like his happiness was being reflected back at him, and like he had been taught a secret handshake that welcomed him, despite never realizing he’d needed to learn it! 

Even that night, the first he’d spent with Lily all week, was incredible just sitting there, surrounded by his family. Comforting even after the ever-tightening coil of tension. So much so, the words, fears he’d been harboring for the last few weeks, had slipped out unbidden and without preamble.

“Me too,” Lily said softly, turning her head to nuzzle it into the crook of his neck.

“We can’t keep this up forever,” he muttered into her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Dad will think of something. Or we can do something else to draw him out,” she suggested, pulling back to give him a questioning look.

“Your birthday is this Saturday,” he said slowly. A new plan was forming, and he wasn’t yet sure what he thought of it.

He’d hoped to spend the day together. A romantic getaway, or something similar. Not that it was possible. 

The self-imposed abstinence was starting to get to him. He went to bed rock hard every night. He didn’t know how he’d waited those first couple months for Lily to figure out she was in love with him. Doing the same again, now that they were on the same page with their feelings and he knew what bliss existed in her embrace, he’d never be able to go without her for so long again. He had even contemplated following her to work one day and locking them in an empty room during one of her breaks. Only the knowledge that Harry’s Aurors would be standing guard outside the room while he did stopped him.

Actually, they might very well be the reason Greyback wasn’t taking the bait each night. It did seem a little unlikely that Harry would protect his daughter at work, but not when she was at home. Especially when that was where Greyback had attacked Vickie.

“You’re thinking we should stage something more public,” Lily said, the idea rolling over in her mind like a river flowing around pebbles, curling and smoothing the rough, unfinished edges. It was almost like she’d read his mind and carried his current thought to the next logical step.

“Let him think he has easier access to you,” Teddy said, pressing his lips together in a tight line. “Or maybe because it’s a special occasion.”

It galled him that Greyback was targeting her at all, and that such a thing even needed to be considered. Lily was so vibrant and compassionate. No one in their right mind would want to harm her. But then, that was the problem. Greyback wasn’t in his right mind. He hadn’t been for a very long time. And he’d targeted Vickie while they’d been planning their wedding. Lily’s birthday seemed a semi-near equivalent.

“The full moon was a few nights ago, so we won’t have that to worry about,” Teddy added. He’d worried Greyback would choose to strike then, but luckily he hadn’t tried anything.

“Students have a Hogsmeade trip planned for Halloween, but we could set something up on Friday night,” Harry suggested, weighing in on the conversation, and making it clear he’d been eavesdropping. “We’ll probably have a better chance if we do go somewhere else. He seems to want to keep us guessing.”

“There still haven’t been any sightings of him, have there?” Aiyana asked from her spot on the floor.

“No,” Harry admitted.

“Are we even sure he’s still in Britain? He fled last time,” Al remarked, pointing out that they could be doing all of this for nothing. 

It was the very thing Teddy had been worried about himself. What if Greyback had gone and they started getting lax in guarding Lily, then he came back and attacked her? If this went on too much longer, mistakes were bound to be made. 

That thought had been repeating itself more and more with each passing day. Teddy felt like a pup chasing his tail or a teen with a broken heart listening to a sad song on repeat. The repetition of his worries was slowly driving him insane.

“I don’t think he’s gone yet. I think he’s enjoying watching us squirm,” Jamie said darkly, scowling at the thought of someone hurting his sister.

“But what if he has gone?” Al asked a bit impatiently.

“It’s probably too soon to be worrying about that,” Harry replied, though his brow was wrinkled. 

Al looked ready to disagree, wanting to hear that a plan was in place, but he let it go without commenting further. Except now Teddy was wondering the same. Had Harry already started making --

“Relax,” Lily ordered, leaning into Teddy. She must have noticed how tense he was over the new topic himself. “All of you, actually. I won’t do anything stupid -- this weekend or until after he’s caught. And who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky. Worth a shot at least.”

“I’ll get something set up tomorrow,” Harry announced, taking charge. He was as ready as Teddy for this to be over.

“Harry…” Ginny began, but Harry interrupted.

“It’ll be over soon, and I won’t let anything happen to our baby,” Harry promised.

“You better not,” Gin grumbled, and Teddy watched Harry and Lily share an amused smile at Ginny’s expense, their expressions identical.

He really hoped this plan worked better than the last.

~

The next two days passed in a blur, and before he knew it, it was Friday. 

They were back at the Three Broomsticks, where their journey together had, if not literally then lastingly, begun with several members of the Potter and Weasley families as well as several of Lily’s friends from school and work. So far, nothing had happened, but most of those gathered were on high alert even as they celebrated.

Aurors were positioned throughout the room and posted throughout the town, but Teddy hadn’t left Lily’s side. At least he hadn’t until the young barkeep had stopped him from following Lily into the loo a moment ago.

“Now, none of that,” the blonde said, swatting him on the shoulder when he made to follow after Lily, “there are rooms upstairs for what you’re after. There’ll be no shenanigans in the lavatory with so many people about.”

“What?” Teddy asked, turning his head in time to witness a flushed and laughing Lily duck into the room with Roxy, Dom, and Cara. “Oh! We weren’t --”

“Sure you weren’t. I remember the two of you in here a few months back putting on a show,” the girl huffed, but winked at him before walking away. 

Teddy blinked, the memory of what she was referring to coming back to him quickly. Kay, he suddenly remembered the barkeep was called, had put a stop to them when they’d come in towards the end of summer. The place had been nearly empty, only a few young people about. They’d probably been at Hogwarts at the same time as Lily, only a few years younger.

Lily had kissed him at the bar, reminding him precisely of what she had done that first night he came back into her life, and he’d quickly lost himself in it just as he had the first time he was fortunate enough to taste her. At least until Kay had tossed a key towards them and said to head upstairs if they planned to continue.

They’d taken her up on it, and thoroughly enjoyed recreating that first night -- including the morning after.

Teddy saw that Kay was back behind the bar again, and was half tempted to head into the loo anyways. Only the knowledge that there weren’t any windows, that the Aurors had surveyed the place earlier, and that Lily had two of her cousins as well as one of her almost sister-in-laws with her stopped him. She’d be safe for the two minutes they were apart. He really was lucky with how understanding she was being about how clingy and overbearing he was acting.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully. Aside from when Jamie had drunkenly announced to the entire room that he was going to marry Aiyana. The witch in question had looked at him and calmly suggested he consider asking her before making such a pronouncement. Then Harry had sent Al to drag his sloshed brother down off the bar top.

Nothing deterred Jamie was he was in the mood to have a good time. And the word caution wasn’t in his vocabulary. The boy took after his father far more than the rest of his kids did. 

They were fortunate that Greyback was targeting Lily rather than Jamie -- words he never imagined himself thinking, but true nonetheless.

Teddy wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not that Greyback hadn’t shown. Mostly, he was just satisfied that Lily had seemed to enjoy herself. Her normal exuberance and vivaciousness were present all night long, and she’d given the impression that she didn’t have a care in the world. It was gratifying to know she trusted him and her dad to keep her safe, and that she wouldn’t resent him or stop living just because things weren’t perfect.

They’d just stepped outside when an owl flew up from its perch on a large, carved jack-o-lantern to land on Lily’s shoulder. If he had to guess, it had been waiting for her for some time.

Teddy watched her brow furrow as she read it. Lily took his hand when she’d finished, and loudly called, “Dad, we’re heading home!”

Harry, having just said that he’d be coming home with them after he checked with the Aurors outside, glanced from her to the letter she held, and casually said, “Okay, sweetheart.” 

Teddy let Lily Side-Along Apparate them to Grimmauld Place before she handed over the suspicious letter without him having to ask for it. Dread settled in the pit of his stomach as he read the brief note that was once again written in rusty, flaking smears of dried blood.

_Little Red,_

_I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your precious new house down unless you meet me there tonight at midnight -- alone. Just in time to welcome your last birthday -- my gift to you. Don’t even think of telling your father or I’ll make you scream before I eat you up._

_Looking Forward to Tasting You,  
Big Bad Wolf_

He’d barely read the last word before Harry was beside them reading over his shoulder.

It was just after ten, the group calling it a relatively early night when Greyback didn’t show. Plus, Jamie had a match first thing the next morning and Aiyana had dragged him back to their flat to sleep the night off. 

Greyback had timed things perfectly. If Lily had lied about it being a birthday message or something like that instead of giving him the letter, she could have easily snuck out to comply with the demands of the letter.

“I didn’t know if he was watching,” Lily explained, looking back and forth between the two men. “Do you think he believed I kept this to myself if he was?”

“You did well,” Harry assured her. “He probably thought you would lie to us. I know I would have at your age. I was rather known for it, in fact. He’s probably counting on that.”

Teddy was amazed all over again by how different she was from both Harry and Victorie. Lily hadn’t even hesitated to ask for help or leave it up to trained professionals to handle Greyback. She may have her parents’ stubborn, iron-will, but she knew when and where to direct it. 

“Yes, but you enjoy taking on bad guys. I just want to help fix people afterwards.”

“I love you, Hellcat,” Teddy said, kissing her quickly. Lily chuckled and flushed, then glanced at her father. Harry had barely noticed them, already strategizing and muttering about something one of the Aurors had just told him, though Teddy didn’t properly catch what he said. 

“Teddy, you can go disguised as Lily. I’ll lead a team of Aurors to back you up and take over once we know for sure that he is there.” 

Harry looked pained voicing such a proposition, but they’d debated it enough over the last month that Harry knew better than to suggest Teddy sit this one out. Plus, if he was disguised as Lily, they'd have a better shot of Greyback lowering his guard.

“Sounds good,” he muttered, rereading the letter to see if he’d missed any clues. Guess the party had successfully drawn Greyback out. He probably didn’t like the idea of them being happy and celebrating. Absently, he noted, “He’s mixing his fairy tales.”

“So long as he is cast as the villain, I don’t think he cares,” Lily muttered, rolling her eyes.

“He’ll probably destroy --”

“It’s nothing that can’t be replaced, and I’m ready for this to be over,” she said, shrugging a single shoulder. 

Without having gotten to see any of the progress made on their house this last week, Teddy wondered if it wasn’t real yet to her either. Or maybe she was just eager to get back to normal. He could certainly relate to that.

“I’ll call in reinforcements. You ready for this?” Harry asked, turning towards the Floo, but pausing long enough to spare Teddy a questioning glance.

“Been waiting years to make him pay,” he answered coolly.

“Then you better get changed. We don’t have long,” Harry replied quickly.

Teddy headed up to Lily’s old bedroom where she’d been staying and morphed his features and body to resemble her, changing into some of her clothes afterwards. He deliberately picked an oversized sweater that would easily fit him -- actually, it was his and Lily had just taken it -- and a pair of her loose fitting work pants just in case he needed to morph back into himself at any point. 

Lily had stayed downstairs, presumably to talk to Harry once he’d contacted some of the other Aurors. Probably, she was demanding that her dad look out for him and bring her fiance back unharmed. 

“We need to hurry,” Harry said as Teddy came down the stairs. 

He nodded, moving to kiss Lily goodbye, but she snorted and hugged him instead, having no desire to share a kiss with her mirror image. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and shook her head instead.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you when you get back. I love you,” she said simply. 

Incentive to return unharmed. He nodded, understanding. Then Teddy and Harry set off to finally end things once and for all.


	13. 13: Blow Your House Down and Eat You Too

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

This chapter is written from Teddy’s perspective. Only one more chapter!

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 13: Blow Your House Down and Eat You Too

The first thing Teddy saw when he opened his eyes after Apparating was the shimmering fire. The blue and orange tinged golden flames danced, illuminating the devastating scene before him. The recently erected frame of the house was smoldering, and the piles of supplies in the yard including brick, stone and lumber were in ruins. Greyback had never had any intention of leaving it intact. Why would he when he knew the loss would hurt Teddy?

Any and all pain he could inflict, Greyback would.

Out of the corner of his eye, Teddy saw a wooden beam swinging towards him. He ducked, jumping left and twisting out of the way just in time to avoid the moving two-by-four. Lily’s small size maneuvered so much more easily than his. He’d never have dodged in time if he’d had his usual bulk.

“You think you’re going to get away from me again?” Greyback growled when Teddy turned back to him. The werewolf’s eyes were crazed, gleaming an animalistic yellow.

“No,” Teddy replied, taking deliberate breaths to stay calm.

“I’ve been waiting weeks for this, Little Red,” he announced, swiping his lank, matted hair out of his eyes. “The last birthday you’ll ever have. You’ll never reach twenty-two.”

“If you say so,” Teddy snorted. He’d hit that a while back. 

The werewolf’s lips curled back and he snarled as he taunted, “I’ve decided I’ll leave what’s left of you in the pup’s bed. A blazing, bloody Goldielocks.”

“Still mixing your fairy tales?” Teddy asked calmly. 

It was a calm he never would have been able to manage when he was nineteen and Greyback first started this campaign against Teddy. But the years had helped him mature enough to keep his head.

It helped that he could see Harry working his way closer, shifting from one pile of wreckage to the next as he came up behind Greyback, and he focused on that instead. Seemed his godfather was still content to let Teddy take on Greyback by himself for the time being. Content to let him engage in the fight that had been a long time coming. Or at least he would so long as Teddy wasn’t in trouble. Then Harry would no doubt take over. Teddy figured it had been this way for Harry with Voldemort with Dumbledore acting in Harry’s current role. At least while he’d been alive.

“What?” Greyback growled, baring his stained and cracked teeth. It was a disgusting and nauseating sight. Teddy noticed the way the wolf’s fingers flexed spasmodically on the wooden plank he was still clutching.

“ _Goldielocks. The Three Little Pigs. Little Red Riding Hood._ You can’t seem to stick to one or get them straight,” Teddy calmly explained. 

He’d always figured he’d be in a rage if he ever came face-to-face with the monster intent on brutalizing the people most dear to him. But he wasn’t. Not since he’d made the conscious decision to remain in control of his emotions. Perhaps because he recognized that this was the end. After tonight, Greyback would no longer haunt him. Never again would he represent a specter looming over him, threatening to take everything of valve that Teddy possessed.

“What’s that matter? The wolf gets them all in the end. Just like --”

“Actually,” Teddy broke in, cutting him off mid-rant, “there isn’t a wolf in the Goldielocks story. It was three bears,” Teddy corrected, absurdly pleased at the way Greyback’s nostrils flared in irritation when he did. A thick rope of drool even slid from the corner of his parted lips. "And the wolf doesn't win in any of them."

“You think you’re so brave. Standing there mouthing off like that. Like being Potter’s brat means you’ve got daddy’s protection. But he isn’t here, is he? So just you wait -- I’ll have you begging for mercy in no time,” Greyback taunted, running his eyes lewdly over Lily. The look was hungry, but not in a sexual way, yet somehow it still caused Teddy’s stomach to pitch uncomfortably.

“We’ll see,” Teddy said, reminding himself to remain calm. 

Every instinct he had screamed at him to attack. To permanently stop the beast before him so that he could never look at the real Lily the way he’d just looked at Teddy. He refused to let anyone hurt her the way Greyback was planning to.

A deep howl tore from Greyback’s chest, and Teddy had to admit it was rather intimidating. The sound was nothing human. Just how close was Greyback to permanently retaining his wolf form? Was it possible that one day soon he’d shift for the full moon, then, when it set, simply stay an animal forever? If Teddy hadn’t seen what the werewolf had become for himself, he’d never have thought it possible, but now he was beginning to think it was.

“I only got a taste of you last time. Barely enough to savor,” Greyback said, apparently trying to regain the advantage he’d realized he’d lost. He even went so far as to lick his taloned nails like he was reminiscing over the taste of the blood he’d drawn when he scratched Lily.

The reminder of the scars Lily now sported, and always would, made Teddy see red. The wounds that had left her bedridden for nearly three days afterwards. But he clenched his jaw and forced himself to focus.

“You’re disgusting. Nothing more than an rabid animal that needs to be put down,” Teddy said tensely. 

“Your pup comes from an animal that wasn’t any different, so careful pointing those scrumptious little fingers of yours or I’m liable to think you want me to bite them off,” Greyback countered almost at once, as if he’d just been waiting to point it out. “Maybe I’ll do just that regardless.”

“Remus was nothing like you,” Teddy insisted fiercely, his voice, unfamiliar when coming from his mouth, was hard as nails.

“You really believe that, don’t you, Little Red. Shows what little you know. _I made him._ And come time for a full moon, he’d be just as likely to shred you to pieces as I am tonight. It wouldn’t matter who you were to him -- he’d eat you up all the same. You’re a fool if you think any different,” Greyback crowed, laughing mockingly as he spoke the damning words. 

And Teddy knew it was the unfortunate truth. The reason people feared werewolves -- including his father. There was a reason they were classified as dangerous beasts. It was part of why he’d never dared ask about that aspect of his dad’s life or let Luna talk him into researching werewolves during the last decade when they looked into every other magical creature -- both known and unknown.

“Only because of the full moon. Difference is, you’re a monster all the time, and you like it,” Teddy accused.

“Of course I do. I’ve embraced what I am -- an apex predator. That’s right. You know it. I can smell it on you,” Greyback said with relish, grinning around his slightly elongated fangs and inhaling dramatically for effect. 

Teddy doubted he actually smelled anything aside from the smoke and ash thick in the air. The unintentional product of the fire he’d set. If he had, he’d had already turned to take on Harry, the other wizard standing less than twenty feet behind him. Not to mention the dozen Aurors stationed throughout Teddy’s new property. And the little fact that he was squared off with Teddy, not Lily, as he currently believed.

“You’re not as powerful as you seem to think,” Teddy insisted, relishing having this advantage over the wolf.

“Surprised you ain’t screaming yet. His last bitch was. But I should have figured you’d be feeling cocky after you got away last time,” Greyback said, sounding a bit desperate now to get a rise out of who he thought was Lily.

“Don’t talk about Vickie,” Teddy ordered. He didn’t deserve to even think about her after what he did.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like thinking about how you’re just the replacement,” Greyback taunted, latching onto the subject now that he believed he’d finally scored a hit.

“She isn’t,” Teddy said softly.

Teddy had a feeling he’d have eventually fallen for Lily even if he and Victorie had tried to make it work. Lily was simply too perfect for him for it not to happen.

“You addled in the head, Red?” Greyback asked, frowning at the nonsensical answer Teddy had given.

“I’m not Lily,” he revealed, smiling wickedly.

Teddy willed his features to shift, to melt away and reveal the face and body he ordinarily dorned. There wasn’t a trickling sensation or a bubbling beneath the skin, and certainly no pain to indicate it was working. The only signs he had to go on to know, was the way Greyback’s sickly, beady eyes had widened with alarm and how the fit of his clothes altered subtly, the pants shrinking until they strained near to bursting at the seams and the sweater stretching familiarly across his chest and shoulders. There was also a slight breeze about his ankles and calves suddenly from where the pants had rode up when he grew a solid foot in the span of a minute.

“You,” Greyback hissed, curling his lips back in a startled and defensive grimace.

Teddy’s smile grew impossibly wider. It felt so good to finally get one up on Greyback after all this time.

“It’s better this way. Don’t you think? Time we settle things directly,” Teddy suggested amicably, as though he were offering tea and biscuits.

“I’m going to make you suffer,” Greyback threatened.

Then without another word, Greyback lunged for Teddy. 

“ _Impedimenta!_ ” Teddy cried, aiming at the wolf. Four other jets of light collided with the wolf at the same time his spell struck the man’s chest.

Greyback slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Teddy stared at the contorted man, shocked that the plan had truly worked.

“Teddy, I’ve got this. You’ve done what you set out to do,” Harry said quietly, coming up beside him and placing a strong hand on his shoulder, squeezing briefly.

Harry sent ropes soaring from his wand towards Greyback’s prone form. They twisted around the man, binding him from head to foot. Then Harry softly cast, “ _Envenerate._ ”

Greyback groaned pitifully, his head lolling about before he fully became aware of his bound state. Then he howled, letting the snarling, raging sound rip from his as he fought like a feral beast against the ropes securing him.

Harry watched apathetically for several minutes before he spoke. “You killed a man that was like a father to me. You killed my niece. You hurt my daughter. You hurt my son,” Harry said gravely, prowling closer to the wolf, but pausing to spare a glance at Teddy as he said the last. “I have the clearance to kill you right here.” With that, Harry took a folded and sealed official looking document from an inside pocket of his robes. “It’s signed by the Minister herself. Victorie was her niece as well, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Teddy hadn’t known Hermione had done that, but he wasn’t surprised either. She did not tolerate unnecessary cruelty or ongoing Death Eater activities, which this would qualify as.

Harry stared at Greyback for a long moment. The werewolf had finally stopped struggling and turned a sickly pale shade in the continuing firelight.

“But I won’t. You’re not worth it. You’re not worth tainting this land, or for me to sacrifice my morals,” Harry concluded, signaling a few of the nearby Aurors to come take the imprisoned man.

Teddy wondered again if the fire Greyback had set was the only reason he’d not sensed the ambush waiting for him. His determination to make a grand production of this night had backfired on him. How... fitting.

Harry headed back to Teddy, and he was reminded precisely why Harry was so unanimously admired by their society. He was a good man. One Teddy could only hope to continue emulating. He was lucky to be raised by him.

“Thanks, Harry,” Teddy said, eagerly accepting the hug his godfather offered.

“Go home. I’m sure Lily’s worried, and will want to know about this,” Harry ordered. He glanced at where the Aurors were preparing to Disapparate, and acknowledged, “He won’t ever be a problem again. I guarantee it. And let Gin know I’ll be home as soon as I’ve finished here.”

Teddy gave the sight a final glance as he nodded. A few of the Aurors were putting out fires, not that anything was salvageable at this point, but he appreciated it nonetheless. Seeing that they had the situation well in hand, Teddy listened to Harry, and Disapparated for Grimmauld Place. 

“Well?” Lily immediately demanded, pouncing on him less than a second after he stepped through the front door. Gin had followed her to the front door and was anxiously looking Teddy over. He noted her relieved look when there were no visible markings on him.

“We’re a bit behind schedule on the house now, but we don’t need to worry about Greyback ever again,” Teddy announced, burying his face in her neck.

She smelled of berries, like the little tarts from the Holyhead bakery she loved, and as soon as the scent filled his nose, fear kicked in and he felt tears burn his eyes. This last month had been one long close call. Too close. Far too close for his liking. 

Though it could have also been a bit of ash and soot from their burning house too. 

“I don’t want to know what it would be like to live without you,” he rasped, the choked words barely escaping his constricted throat. 

“You won’t ever have to,” Lily vowed, her own voice sounding thick and uneven.

“Why don’t the two of you head home for the evening,” Gin suggested.

“Harry said --”

“He’ll be here soon? I assumed as much,” Gin said lightly, a bit or her normal humor returning. After all this time, she was intimately familiar with Harry’s habits when it came to work.

Teddy didn’t entirely remember leaving Grimmauld Place. But he knew they had because they were in his bedroom. He couldn’t even remember the last time he stayed in it.

Then his sweater was being pushed up as far as Lily could reach, and he was laughing as he helped her take it the rest of the way off of him.

A groan escaped him when her lips pressed kisses along his chest. “You smell like smoke,” she breathed, nipping lightly at his neck as he shoved her pants down.

“The frame burned,” he gasped, gripping her bared hips in response to the way her every action aroused him.

It had been so long since he’d felt her hands and mouth on his body that he felt ready to explode from just the brief contact.

“Hellcat, I need you -- now,” Teddy moaned, tugging her sweater off and cupping her breasts. Lily’s back arched, pressing the mounds further into his hands. He squeezed and massaged the soft globes, tweaking the budded peaks until she gasped.

“Yeah…right...now,” she agreed, nodding and frowning as she tried to shove the too tight borrowed pants down his hips. 

Teddy laughed when she roughly kicked her feet free of her discarded pants and grabbed her wand, proceeding to vanish the lime green scrubs right off his body. Where had she even had the wand stashed? And he’d thought he was impatient to have her. But then her mouth was on his and he stopped thinking altogether.

His hands roamed over her curves, tracing a familiar path and lingering in all the places he knew drove her wild as she did the same.

They tumbled onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and more than a few chuckles, but those faded quickly when he settled between her legs. Lily’s thighs came up to wrap snugly around his hips and she sighed blissfully when he sank into her. 

Her wet heat gripped him tightly, and his head spun when he rocked his hips. The friction was exquisite. He rolled them, settling Lily atop him so that his hands were free to shape her round breasts, and tug at her pebbled nipples or slide down to toy with her clit.

Lily rode him, panting and moaning and gasping. Every sound had him bucking harder into her tight sheath. When she dipped her head to capture his lips, her scarlet hair fell like curtains around them, hiding them away from the rest of the world. Nothing existing outside the two of them. 

“I love you,” he breathed, the words lost in her mouth, but answered by the feel of her inner muscles squeezing him impossibly tighter as she found her climax.

The pressure sent him careening after her, and spilling himself within her. Teddy held Lily tight against his chest afterwards, unwilling to put any more space than absolutely necessary between them. 

“Let’s not spend another night apart -- for any reason,” he suggested.

“If you recall, the last month apart was at _your_ insistence. I tried --” she started, but he cut her off with a deep, intoxicating kiss that had her going limp and pliant against him.

It was some time before they broke apart, and Teddy could already feel his desire for her stirring anew. A month really was too long to resist the fiery vixen.

“Happy birthday, Hellcat,” he said softly, having just remembered that it was well after midnight, and therefore both her birthday and Halloween.

His words earned him another toe curling kiss. He drank in every sensation she sparked to life eagerly, relishing the joy she gave him. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how lucky he’d gotten when he was brave enough to flirt with the sexy redhead that night at the bar. 

He was certain they’d have ended up here eventually anyways. Now that he was living in Britain again. But if he’d known she was Lily Potter, it probably would have taken several months longer -- time he was immensely grateful not to have wasted.

“Earlier, when you morphed to look like me… Is that really how you see me?” Lily asked softly, shifting until she was propped above him, and able to look him in the eye.

He honestly had no idea what she was talking about. “What do you mean?” he asked, feeling more than a touch confused.

“Everything -- my hair, lips, eyes, body…they were all _enhanced_. Better looking,” she said carefully.

“I looked just like you. Everyone said so,” Teddy replied. All of the Aurors had talked about what a shame it was that he was a writer and not an Auror like his mum. His was a very useful skill, after all.

Lily chuckled, dropping kisses all over his face, and between each, saying, “I hope you always see me like that.”

Part of his mind wondered if this was some mysterious girl thing he’d no hope of understanding. Luna had mentioned things like that a few times over the years when her husband would flatter her. But mostly, he basked in the feel of her nails lightly scratching over the ridges of his abdomen. It was impossible not to be turned on when she touched him like that. And coherent thought? Yeah, there was no way. No bloody way.

“I’ve a feeling I will,” Teddy said, more than a little dazed by her.

Particularly when she took him in hand, threw a leg over his hips, and slid down on his length. 

Round two. Excellent!


	14. 14: Hell's Bells

Author’s Note

Please forgive any spelling and/or grammar errors. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know what you think! 

PS I’m not J. K. Rowling, so I don’t own anything :(

~

Chapter 14: Hell’s Bells

The room was in a state of controlled chaos. Much as it had been for the last three hours. The noise and bustle of more than a dozen women preparing for a wedding was starting to get to Lily. It was a bloody sauna in the large room. Didn’t Draco Malfoy know how to make use of cooling charms?

Scor and Rose had ultimately decided to have their wedding in the elaborate rose gardens at Malfoy Manor -- despite Uncle Ron’s protests. Lily had overheard her parents discussing Ron’s aversion, and had learned it was because Hermione had once been tortured in this house, but Lily was certain Rose knew nothing about it. So far, everyone seemed content to keep it that way so as not to ruin the bride’s big day.

The smile Lily had plastered on her face wavered slightly when the room spun unexpectedly. But she masked it quickly enough. Seriously, would it kill someone to try and cool the room off a bit? How was Rose not being roasted alive? Lily was afraid she would hear Rose crying any second, complaining about her face melting off, the makeup she’d had painstakingly applied ruined from rivers of sweat dripping down her forehead.

Perhaps it was her own fault. Low blood sugar possibly. She’d taken one look at her breakfast and known she’d be sick if she tried to eat any of the decadent fare the Malfoys had provided for the wedding party. Or it could have been from all of the different perfumes that had been sprayed in the last hour. Each of the women had squirted their personal blend until a thick cloud seemed to hover in the center of the room. Many of the strong aromas clashed horribly.

“Lily?” Rose prompted when the knock sounded, and she hastened to answer it. She was the only person left not currently busy getting ready, and honestly, she welcomed the chance to breathe a bit of fresh air. 

“I was told to bring this over,” Al said, handing over a large box. 

Lily grinned at his slightly uncomfortable expression. Al hated having attention focused on him, and as the best man, he’d have to stand in front of everyone today. His collar was already a little wrinkled from where he’d been tugging on it.

Once the door was shut, she pulled off the lid and tossed it aside to see what was inside. It was the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids. Roses. At least a hundred of the beautiful blooms filled the box in a dazzling array of pinks, reds, yellows, peaches, whites and corals. They were magnificent. Utterly perfect for a bride named Rose.

“Oh, Rosie, these flowers are absolutely gorgeous!” Lily exclaimed, leaning in to smell the delicate scent.

Dizziness yanked at her again, only this time her stomach rolled, pitching violently as well. Lily was afraid to move, certain that if she tried blackness would consume her.

“Thanks, but if you like them, then why are you frowning like that?” Rose asked, chuckling softly while Hermione and Fleur continued working on her hair. 

All of the bridesmaids were already ready, with Roxy and Dom having gone out to see after the guests that had arrived early. Lily had stayed behind for Rose’s sake so that she’d not be alone with Hermione, Ginny, Fleur, Astoria, Daphne and Molly while they fought over who got to help the bride. 

“Because I -- oh!” Lily groaned, falling to her knees and only barely managing to bend over the discarded box lid rather than the box of bouquets before she hurled the nonexistent contents of her stomach into it. 

Luckily, there wasn’t much since she’d skipped breakfast. What little there was, was bad enough. The acidic burn stung her nose, making her eyes water. She heaved again, though there was nothing left to come up.

When she was sure nothing more that she’d eaten was planning on making a reappearance, Lily slumped against the door she’d recently shut, and closed her eyes as she felt her mum run a cold hand over her brow.

“ _I’m so sorry_ ,” Lily moaned, embarrassed to make such a public and mortifying scene just before her cousin’s wedding.

“I do believe that was my youngest granddaughter’s delightful way of announcing her pregnancy,” Molly said cheerfully to the silent room.

“Mum! I think I’d know if my daughter was --”

“You’ve had three children yourself. Surely you recognize the signs?” Molly asked glibly, shaking her head at Ginny with quite a bit of exasperation showing through.

“She would have mentioned if…”

“Oh, Merlin,” Lily gasped, pressing her hand against her stomach and causing her mum to fall silent as she watched her youngest child with wide, shocked eyes and her mouth slightly agape. 

Of course. All the signs were there. Had been for a couple weeks now, but Lily hadn’t been paying attention, not having expected this to happen even if they did have a rather healthy sex life. They weren’t yet trying for kids, after all. 

She’d been exhausted lately, sleeping significantly more than normal. Her last period was practically nonexistent. The headaches. Irritability. And now dizziness and vomiting and excess discomfort. 

She’d chalked it up to taking on as much as possible to help with the wedding so Rose wouldn’t have to. That, in addition to finishing up with the house. They were set to move in a week, and the builders had gotten behind more than once recently, so she’d had to stay on them to properly fix things. To say she was stressed was an understatement. 

Guess it wasn’t stress so much as her body demanding the extra rest and care being pregnant demanded considering the toll it took. 

A glass of water was lowered before her, and Lily accepted it gladly, smiling up at Fleur in thanks. Ginny was frozen beside her, her jaw hanging open as she looked for those signs her mum had previously mentioned. At the same time, Hermione vanished the vomit and waved her wand at the air, dispelling the noxious odor.

“Wait, truly?” Ginny asked incredulously.

“I… Where’s Teddy?” Lily asked, looking about the room. 

All thoughts to her previous nausea were forgotten as she jumped up, wanting nothing more than to see him.

Lily hardly noticed who it was that pressed a potion into her hand, but from the faint taste of mint, she realized it was a Calming Draught. Probably, someone had had it on hand in case Rosie got anxious. Regardless, Lily was grateful that it erased any lingering signs of being sick.

“With your father I’d imagine,” Ginny said slowly, still sounding more than a bit stunned as she stood and stepped away from the door.

Lily looked to Rose, seeking permission to go. It was the other girl’s big day, and Lily didn’t want to ruin it for her. But Rose was smiling so brightly that her cheeks must have hurt, and all she said was, “Well, go on then!”

“Thanks,” Lily cried, hurrying out of the room as soon as the words registered.

Lily ran through the halls, familiar with the house from when she’d visited with Scor. There was a parlor next to the groom’s room that she guessed they might use. 

She couldn’t believe she and Teddy were already having a baby. It seemed like just the day before that she’d moved into his flat or sat at Greyback’s trial where he’d been given a life sentence. In truth, five months had passed, but it hardly seemed possible. Yet the second her gran had announced that she was pregnant, Lily felt a thrill go through her. She couldn’t imagine anything better ever happening to her, or them. 

Guests got hastily out of her way as she ran past, and Lily could feel the pins in her carefully arranged updo coming loose, but she didn’t slow down. Not until she was grabbing the door handle and throwing it open, skidding to a stop in the process, did she quit running. Lily all but tumbled inside, laughing breathlessly as she did. 

Harry, Ron, Draco, and Teddy were all sitting around a round wooden table when she came in. They each had a glass of dark amber liquid in front of them of what she suspected was firewhiskey. Celebrating already? Probably. A door in the far wall was open, and Lily could just make out Al and Scor through the opening. 

Teddy was standing by time she reached them, and she barreled into him, wrapping her arms about his waist in a vice grip.

“Lily? What is it? What’s happened?” Teddy demanded, curling an arm protectively around her waist. 

“I’m pregnant. We are. We’re going to have a baby!” she breathed, the words coming out as little more than a laughing whisper. 

“Guess it’s a good thing you’ve already agreed to letting him propose,” Ron said loudly, slapping Harry on the back. “Right, Gramps?”

“What?” Lily gasped, still giggling as she looked at the men still seated them up at Teddy. The tips of his hair had gone an intriguing shade of fuchsia. 

“I was going to wait until the night we moved in to ask you,” Teddy said stiffly, aiming a chastising look at Ron for ruining the surprise. “Do you mean it though? About the baby. You’re certain?”

“Like father like son,” Harry sighed when she nodded in confirmation, though his emerald eyes were significantly wider than normal behind his round spectacles and they looked a bit glassy. Probably a result of being called gramps. Though maybe it was just the idea of his little girl being old enough to start a family of her own. 

“How so?” Draco asked, looking between the embracing couple and Harry. 

“Tonks was already pregnant when she and Remus married,” he said, smiling faintly. 

“Guess that gives the two of you something to look forward to...if you’re just following tradition,” Ron quipped, laughing loudly like he truly enjoyed the jest. 

“Bite your tongue, Uncle Ron,” Lily said, giving him the evil eye for daring to suggest such a thing before her baby was even born. 

“I’m really happy for you guys,” Scor said. Lily glanced up to see him leaning against the door frame, one foot crossed at the ankle and propped up on his toes, smiling genuinely. 

Teddy and she had spent quite a bit of time with him and Rose recently as they helped with all the last minute wedding preparations. They’d even gone on a few double dates while the other couple were visiting from France. Teddy had groaned before the first outing, insisting it would be awkward, but even he’d admitted afterwards that it hadn’t been. Well, maybe a little bit the first time. Lily found it both amusing and wonderful to see Teddy and his cousin getting along.

“Yes, Lily-flower. Congratulations,” Draco said, smiling a bit wistfully at her. 

He’d joked, not even a month earlier, that she could still change her mind and be the one to marry Scorpius. He’d said it in such a way that she still wasn’t entirely sure if he was merely teasing or not. If Lily had to guess, she’d probably assume he hadn’t been. Guess she’d done a bit too good of a job winning him over all those years ago. 

Oh well. He’d feel the same about Rose eventually. Probably around the time she gave him a grandchild. Maybe their kids could grow up together as close of fiends as their parents and grandparents.

“Thanks, everyone,” she said, but her attention had already returned to Teddy, who was staring at her rather reverently.

“You’re happy?” she asked needlessly. The look on his face said everything. 

“More than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” he said thickly, emotion making it difficult for him to speak. 

“I’ll say yes -- when you get around to asking...in case you were worried,” Lily promised, smiling when he rolled his eyes. There was no way he was worried, not when she made a point to remind him daily how much she loved him. 

“Hellcat, I didn’t intend to give you a chance to say no,” he said, and she got the impression that he was completely serious too. “Besides, you’ve been wanting to marry me for well over a decade now,” he teased, grinning smugly at her. 

Lily groaned at the reminder of her childhood crush, but said, “I’m so glad you came back when you did. It was…”

“Perfect timing? Yeah, I’ve thought so myself more than once this last year,” Teddy agreed, brushing a light kiss against her lips. “Timing is everything -- even if it means a surprise baby.” 

“I have every intention of loving you forever,” Lily vowed, letting him see and feel her heart through her words. 

“You’re in my very soul now. Always,” Teddy returned, kissing her again. “You and our baby.”

Fate had led them back to one another. As if they were always meant to be. Who knew a chance encounter would result in a lifetime of happiness with the very soulmate she’d once dreamed of marrying? 

Life was certainly funny sometimes. And as she felt Teddy’s hand came to rest over hers against her stomach she knew it was definitely perfect. Reality far surpassed dreams. 

~

Thank you so much for reading this story, and sticking with it all the way to the end. I truly hope you enjoyed it and would be willing to share your opinions. While I don't really understand why a few people read this then sent me messages about being angry about the age difference when it was advertised as a Teddy/Lily Luna story… I do still like to hear your thoughts. Feedback helps motivate and improve, so please share :)

Also, this was my first attempt at a short story. Initially, this was only supposed to be about 20,000 words. As you can see, it ended up about 50,000 words (aka 200 pages). Better luck next time maybe? Hopefully, you are glad it was extended :)

I had so much fun writing this pairing, and I plan to do a couple outtakes later for this story and each of my others once I finish up writing _Anything_. If you have requests for any of my stories, let me know and I'll see if I can write something.


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